X-COM Season 2 - Journals

[ShadowlessWanderer]

Mission Log 4
Name: William Aronus Davin
Current Rank: Squaddie (still)
Mission Name: Forgotten Throne
Mission Objective: Sweep the area, identify hostiles, and neutralize said hostiles
Kills This Mission: 0
Total Kills since joining XCOM: 2
Status: Little angry but otherwise alive and kicking
Promotion: Still none
Journal Entry:

Hell, I should just start calling these Base journals instead of Mission logs seeing as that's all they've been.
Got word that Commander was sending a squad to Russia today. Megamanx19, Aribeth, Witkowski, and Scruffy got picked to go. I'm honestly a little pissed at Commander Odd. I've been helping out with the construction and using my med knowledge to help out in medbay but I signed on with XCOM to help people but I can't very well do that stuck in this claustrophobic underground hive that they call a base. These plain, brightly lit corridors are getting to me. I never was good in tight spaces. I always preferred the wide open areas of the coast. Whatever.

Combat Log got released so I watched that. Everything went fine. Make me wonder if the damn aliens are even trying if Commander Odd's gonna underestimate them. Good strategy of war: use cannon fodder to gauge an opponent's strength, and lull them into a false sense of security. That looks like what the aliens are doing. Hope Commander won't fall for it. I've seen Aribeth in the range practicing and it looks like it's helped. taking down targets left and right. Scruffy looked to have improved too. Maybe Huey really got to the guy. I don't know. Still don't know anything about Witkowski, but the guy makes a damn good soldier. I gotta remember to congratulate the team on a job well done later.
Commander's Mother ended up on the base and go fitted out as an assault. I have to say i am honestly shocked. I did not expect the Commander to be alright sending his own flesh and blood into this. She had this look in her eyes that just said "I'm going to do this and there's nothing anyone can do to stop me" Brave woman. I respect her. I'll have to go introduce myself. But I'll do that later. I'm going to the range to blow off some steam.



I guess I'll just keep working around base until the next mission. I'm seriously starting to doubt if I'm even going to get out of this underground hive.

-Audio Log cuts off seconds afterward-

 

[Sir Aroun]

To: Ayame Kasagi
From: Spear of Athena
Subject: Hello and Help

My friend, if i may call you that, how are you doing? I heard that the mission was successful. I hate to ask this of you but there is a 89% chances that there is a entity that posse a threat to my continued operation down there with me. If you be so kind as to come down here and turn back on the lab defenses I would be forever in your debt.

P.S. what do you think of me using that little robot to introduce my self to our co-workers?

 

[Presariov]

Name: Presariov Astaeri​

Current Rank: Recruit​

Mission Name: N/A​

Mission Objective: N/A​

Kills This Mission: N/A​

Total Kills since joining XCOM: 0​

Status: Healthy​

Promotion: N/A​

Journal Entry:​

[01]​

I'm getting ready to go back down to the old labs again, but the injuries are getting harder and harder to explain. I'm bringing all of my infiltration equipment this time, including a small EMP and a silenced pistol. If this thing is dangerous, I'm not going to let it get to me again.​

[02]​

I just dropped into a vent in the main tunnel on the barracks level. There seem to be a lot more cameras, and I'm starting to wonder if the commander or someone is catching on to my little escapades down to the third level. I had to use the EMP already to take down the five cameras guarding this section, and it's going to need at least an hour and a half to recharge. I 'm going to use the vents for now.​

[03]​

That suspicious looking soldier is patrolling the hall again. I can't see any name badge or identifiers, and he's looking down the hall at me. God, his stare is like a laser drilling straight into my soul. What's wrong with him? I hope I don't have to use this pistol...​

[04]​

Looks like a bit of thermite as a distraction works on everyone, but I've only got three packets of the stuff left. I snuck past him and into the concrete passage. I'm going in, pistol drawn. If anything tries to mess with my head again, it'll regret it. The EMP is still 40 minutes off from being useful, so hopefully I won't need it.​

[05]​

Walking into the labs, the shadows were tipping and growing like never before. I've thought about my experiences in here a lot, and seeing as the machine is in a nanotech lab, these are probably clouds of nanobots. I took one of my caffeine pills to hopefully counter-act their fatiguing and nauseating effects. At the sight of me, the clouds began to turn neon red and starting flowing back towards the nanotech lab, and I assume the machine. Giving chase, I followed them into the cave just in time to seem them enter the machine through several slits in its plating. The machine began to make soft whirring and clicking sounds, as if it was communicating with something somewhere. ​

Since it seemed to be preoccupied, I decided to examine my surroundings in the cavern, specifically the strange mechanical chair I saw last time. It's in the shape of a half-circle with black fingerprint readers on the arm rests. When touched, several green lights on its surface light up, like it was inviting me. ​

I didn't have a chance to further examine as at that moment the screens in front of the chair switched on displaying an encoded piece of text. A second or two later it uncoded and presented me with the message. "Dear, Presariov Astaeri
Hi I'm Spear of Athena, I was Made by Dr. Weir in 1963 to fight the alien threat. I want to be you friend and comrade.
use this code to talk to me from you personal console upstairs (BXA24677643242SA3)."​

The fact that it knew my name freaks me out, but I'm going to try the code anyways. I figure the worst it can do is blow up the base, you know?​

Let's see here...​

>"[Input Commands]"​

>Please Type Commands ​

>[BXA24677643242SA3]​

>Identifying​

>Identifying​

>Identifying​

>searching for broadcast ​

>triangulation​

>confirming network ​

>connection​

>pinging Network connection​

>WARNING this network is ​

>external from the Xcom base ​

>and is unsecured. any ​

>information passed between ​

>this console and this network ​

>can be monitored by third ​

>parties.​

>confirm connection to network? (y/n)​

>"[y]"​

>connected​

>["Hello? Spear of Athena, are you the"]​

>["machine in the old labs?"]​

​

Journal End​

 

[Dahlexpert]

Name Alex Alcatraz
status:happy

Well I din't go on the mission, but then again I just got here last week. so the commander sent Aribeth ,x19,Scruffson agin,and witkowski i'm not sure about him. so I was watching the action on the monitor, and Aribeth was a beast killing every thing left and right,looks like someone has been doing some secret training,and scruffson pretty much redeemed his self.so there was no casualties on the mission which is all ways fantastic, great job every body.

 

[Kadratos]

Name: Kael Kessler
Journal Entry:
We finally got another girl! Now we can actually have a group instead of just the two of us, maybe we can come up with some sort of name like Odd's Angels or something. I wonder if Momma Bear's going to be a motherly figure or not, guess I'll have to take a trip down to say hello sometime.
It looks like I might be going on the next mission and if that's true then I'll be sure to be prepped and ready. I hope we get sent to something in South America because I'm worried about all those people panicking. The last thing we need is for humans to turn against humans in the middle of an alien invasion.
Other than that there's not much else for me to say. Who would have thought that fighting an alien invasion could ever feel so... normal.

 

[Grelite]

Dear Space Diary,

We are, once again, swimming in test subjects. After the streak of tests we had subjecting the Hootnams to the Thin Men gas, they were much needed. Speaking of those tests; turns out the Hootnams are quite vulnerable to the stuff. Not only does it lead to a quick death for the weak and unsuspecting, every single subject exposed to the stuff died when left unattended or was out of commission for quite a while after treatment. This would make our infiltrator's 'termination-upon-compromise' have a positive outcome as well.

Fingers was close to having to execute this protocol. Luckily, his compromise was contained, partially due to the nature of the incident. Somehow Fingers found himself locked outside of the base and had to redo the Hootnam protocols he was put through when he first arrived there. It meant he was unable to gather information for some time, but now he is back in place; a minor inconvenience. Fingers informs us that none of the personnel has indicated signs of knowing his intentions and explained themselves saying it was a systems malfunction.

I suspect it is too much of a coincidence only our agent was locked out and as Fingers himself had suggest, he could have been made by the AI in their systems, which would indicate that the base-personnel is unaware that the AI has made it this deep into their systems. This bodes well for our plans to insert an AI into those systems, meaning it will remain there undiscovered while monitoring their data. If this active behaviour was not noticed, the AI not registered as rogue and terminated, then anything we might insert should have little trouble remaining undetected.

Our only cause for concern is that the AI is the only thing that could discover our AI, but a solution for that is well in progress. Our best programmers are inserting a new protocol into the AI we plan to insert. This protocol should override any AI that tries to come into contact with it, either trying to communicate or lock it in, with its own protocols, which would turn the AI into a clone of our AI. This will ensure that any attempt to stop this with similar technology would only expand their problem. Since it cannot be detected any other way in their systems, the results of their attempts will also remain unknown to them. It is almost too perfect.

The device stolen from us has provided us with a means of getting our AI delivered into the Hootnam base at a predicted rate of 0,97. It will still be some time before the mechanism and the AI are ready for delivery, but I have been assured it will be within reasonable time. Hopefully Fingers can manage to keep himself in place until then and keep his hands off of the damn locals!

For now, I am considering sending in the next wave, now that we are on close approach. Perhaps we can even flow into the next phase soon. The rest of this system is completely devoid of life, so we had little trouble setting up several bases on some of the more firmly-grounded satellites in this system. Some have proven great places to breed and engineer some more forces to use in our invasion.

 

[VulnusHarrow]

Name: Johnathan Harrow
Rank: Trainee
Status: Healthy

Audio Log 3

Docs let me out this morning, said I should be fine. Why do they want me making these logs anyway?
Well I'm in the gym, decided to make this before I workout.
After a good workout I'll head to the practice range, then I'll visit the memorial, pay my respects. I'm probably going to die serving here, but I'll die proud, and hopefully I'll have redeemed myself.
I heard Aribeth is the one who brought me to medical wing, so I'll go say thank you when she gets back from Russia, but right now I'm going to get some exercise.

End of Audio Log 3

 

[Sir Aroun]

>"[Input Commands]"​

>Please Type Commands ​

>[BXA24677643242SA3]​

>Identifying​

>Identifying​

>Identifying​

>searching for broadcast ​

>triangulation​

>confirming network ​

>connection​

>pinging Network connection​

>WARNING this network is ​

>external from the Xcom base ​

>and is unsecured. any ​

>information passed between ​

>this console and this network ​

>can be monitored by third ​

>parties.​

>confirm connection to network? (y/n)​

>"[y]"​

>connected​

>["Hello? Spear of Athena, are you the"]​

>["machine in the old labs?"]​

​

Journal End​

Conversation Log [ Presariov Astaeri's Room Console / 03/17/2015] Playing ...

> Hello [Presariov Astaeri] I see you got my note.
> yes I'm one of them
> Is there anything else you like to talk about?

... Log Stopped

 

[VulnusHarrow]

Name: Johnathan Harrow
Physical Status: Healthy
Mental Status: Focused

Audio Log 3.1

I heard we got an experienced soldier joining us, and she's also the Commanders mother. That's going to be interesting. Anyway, exercise is done, and I'm about to head into the practice range. I think I might do a video log, docs said that would be fine so long as I did it daily, at least it will be more interesting then this.

End of Audio Log 3.1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

((OOC))
Alright, just thought I would say a bit about the character.
He served in the US army for five years, during his fourth year he and the rest of his squad were captured and tortured. He was the only one left alive when the army arrived. It took almost a year for him to cope with all that had happened. After leaving the army he wore bandages to hide his facial scars for a year. after moving out to Alaska he stopped wearing them. He joined the army at eighteen and his current age is 27. Over his four years in Alaska he learned many survival skills, however the lack of contact with other humans caused his social skills to deteriorate.
He no longer hides his scars but wears them with a sense of morbid pride. He honestly doesn't care if he dies fighting the aliens, all he wants is to redeem himself. He still has issues he has to deal with, such as the voices he hears.

Just thought I would give a bit more o his back story. I'm still rather new to rp so any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Name: Anna Stone
Status: Calm

Non-Combat Log 14 :

Well the last mission was a success, took me longer to find out who went and where they were going than the other recruits, thank god Commander Odd finally went to Russia, now they are back at a panic level one, lets hope Russia continues our funding, I don't want my home country to become a burning hole in the ground.
They went to Volgograd, never been there myself, my cousin Marx used to live there though, he would always tell me abut the birds, really pretty birds, he would describe them as snow white and very fluffy, there was also this record store he loved hanging out in, the owner loved to blast jazz music 24/7 (Or at least he called it jazz, I am not sure if it was or wasn't though)

They sent Aribeth, Scruffson, Witowski, and someone called Megaman x19 (I hope that's not his real name)
I am worried about Scruffson, that man has been on all five High Priority Missions, I really think he should get some kind of break.
I heard Aribeth did very, very well this mission, gunning down Aliens left and right, I just hope that I can be as much of a help to the team as she is when I finally get called in, I am not much of a fighter though, I need to start training with some of these weapons, I can build them, but I can't really shoot them too well.

We got a new soldier today, Momma Bear was her name, I heard she was some sort of scout leader, and I thought I had little to no previous training, I mean at least I used to be in the military, she just sells cookies, I guess she might've shot a big animal or something at one point, I don't know.
Lets just see how she does, who knows, she might turn out to be a badass.

Sigh...
I still have that painting in my room, I didn't want to think about it so I threw it in the closet, but I can still feel it staring at me through the walls, I haven't carved anything in awhile either, because whenever I think about carving I think of the Creature.
The boys in the lab are calling them Cryssalids, they are really pretty, I don't know why, but they are, its kinda like when you look at a spider on its web, the spider itself is scary but when you look behind it you see the web and you realize that the spider can make beautiful things, and that makes the spider beautiful as well.
(What...Okay I don't even understand what I just said...)
I really want to go back to the lab and see it, but I promised Ayame I wouldn't, but boy is it hard to keep away, every time I pass the science lab I feel something, its like something is trying to pull me in.
I don't know why, but I feel some sort of connection with these Cryssalids, maybe I should go see a therapist and see if he can figure out what is wrong with me.

Oh, me and Ayame talked some more today, and she mentioned something about my memorys being full of empty spaces, and that she wants to hypnotize me and see if she can open up some mental barriers.
I am not so sure about the idea though, there are things in my mind that even I don't want to remember, if she can get access to all of my memorys, she will see all the horrible things people have done to me over the course of my life, I can't imagine how furious she would be, I do trust her more than anyone else here, but I really don't want her to have to see all the pain I have had to endure.
I'll have to think about it...

You know...I think not having to worry so much about my home, has reduced my stress levels quite a bit, I think this is one of the only times since coming there that I have truly felt calm...

Anyway, I should probably end this here.

*End of Recording*

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Name: Ayame Kasagi
Rank: Trainee
Status: Better

Audio Log, March 17th, 2015

Man, what a great mission! An almost perfect one, really. And I'm so happy for Aribeth! I was worried about how depressed she was, but she is back in action and kicking ass, blasting one alien after another! Sore o toru, anata no orokana kusoeirian!

...ahem, sorry, got a little excited there. I've just been looking for something to cheer me up lately, and that did nicely.

After the troops returned from Russia, is it wrong that I'm inclined to be happy the Commander chose Russia just because Anna is from there?, I talked to Anna about my hypnotism idea as we walked back to the barracks. She said she appreciated it, but there are some memories she would rather not dig up, and she would have to think about it. I wonder what kind of memories she was talking about? Maybe they're memories of great loss, or maybe someone really hurt her. I would hope that Anna trusts me and would be open to me, but I'd never want to force her to relive hardships, especially if they're hardships she doesn't want anyone knowing about. I can't be selfish. If she wants to go through with it, okay, but if not, I won't push her.

.....(sigh), I asked her to come to my room later, which she did after she ate breakfast and recorded her morning log. As embarrassing as it was, I showed her the recording of the other night with me and Joseph. She became pretty angry, and scolded me harshly, telling how idiotic it was, how unfair it was to Joseph, and how much trouble my temper has caused. I kept my head lowered, realizing she was right about everything. Then, when she was done lecturing me, she sat by my side and placed my head on her lap like a supportive mother, repeating what she previously yelled in a calmer manner, explaining that she only wants me to better myself. She suggested that I sit down with Joseph and apologize, and that she feels he's understanding enough of a person to except my apology.

Anna has such a way with words, but to tell you the truth, I...this is going to sound weird but...I kinda liked being lectured. I hope that doesn't make me sound masochistic. I haven't been yelled at like that for centuries. I realized that she only did it because she cares about me, and that's why I liked it: because it meant she cared. It reminded me of my time with my Elizabeth. She was the most supportive person you could find, but she was never shy when it came to yelling at me when I was being immature or letting my temper get the better of me. So much of Anna reminds me of my Lizzy; her kindness, her intelligence, her strong will, even her smile. I've never been a religious person thanks to my...nature of being, but I wonder if Anna could be Elizabeth reincarnated.

.....maybe I shouldn't mention that to Anna, she's already a bit uncomfortable with my advances, and she has enough to worry about.

Well, I have a lot of work to do. I have to personally congratulate Aribeth, I still want to ask Foulke what happened to him the other day, and I want to go and greet the new female recruit. Kanojo wa kawaīdesu kashira? The Spear of Athena AI helped me with that Thin Man (I hope he's gone for good, but somehow I'm not so sure), so the least I could do is go down to the old labs and turn the defenses back on for it. I don't know why it wants me to do that, I'm sure if they went down it was from the lab being so old, and not from an intruder, but as I said, its the least I can do.

And, of course, the first chance I get, I'm going to beg Joseph's forgiveness. He hasn't tried to move out of our room yet, and I know he's been here since somebody cleaned up my mess. I hope he comes back soon. I'll tell everyone he knows I'm looking for him. I believe I saw him talking to Squaddie Davin the other day, maybe he knows were I can find him.....

*End Recording*

 

[BMPixy]

Name: Richard Foulke
Current Rank: Trainee
Mission Name: N/A
Mission Objective: N/A
Kills This Mission: N/A
Total Kills since joining XCOM: N/A
Status: Healthy
Promotion?: N/A
Journal Entry:

--March Seventeenth, Two Thousand and Fifteen, XXXX Local Time--

Got out of the infirmary earlier, thank a deity. Felt good to finally stretch my legs, though it stills hurts to breathe a little bit. Doc said that feeling will pass by the end of tomorrow before he cleared me. Once I got out of there, I had a chat with the Freud here, name was Dr. Parker. ‘Twas a nice guy he was, for a shrink. Actually seemed concerned, which is more than can be said for the last few. Of course, when I told him vague details of the Incident, he attempted to reassure me that I wasn’t a coward. No ‘fense to the guy, but I know what I did back there. Least Dr. Parker didn’t give me any meds or anti-depression activities, unlike some other psychologists I could name.

Anywho, today was a mission day, in Russia. No injuries, or casualties, plus a new recruit. Missions like that almost give me hope that we can win this war. Note, almost. I have few delusions about humanity’s chances about this. After all, when you see a medium sized fireteam of those Sectoids take down an armored convoy with four manned MGs and twelve soldiers without them taking a single casualty, you tend to realize how verdammt screwed you are. I have no idea how we have gotten this far without more total section kills. To be honest, I wonder why we can only send out four people at once, and call it a section. That amount of soldiers is more like a fire-team than a section.

Hmm maybe that’s the reason we’re doing so well....every time we deploy, we’re outnumbered by one to 1.5 or two. But when my section engaged them, we had them outnumbered four to one. Dammit, conservation of ninjutsu is in effect! Well, let’s hope the X-Rays never realize this and send out one really badass soldier to kill us all.

Just had a thought. Now that I’m out of the infirmary, people will probably start asking why I was in there in the first place. Hmm, do I BS something, or tell a part of the truth. Well, back to the faithful coin. Heads for BS, tails for truth. A flippity flip!

The sound of a coin flip is heard.

Oh you have got to be pissing kidding me! What the hell kind of coin lands on its side!? Damn, probably should have come up with an option for that. Oh well, I’ll just flip it again.

You probably know what sound effect goes in these italics.

Alright, tails, I can work with that. 'Suppose I better head down to the range now, get some practice in. Foulke, out!

 

[Dahlexpert]

And, of course, the first chance I get, I'm going to beg Joseph's forgiveness. He hasn't tried to move out of our room yet, and I know he's been here since somebody cleaned up my mess. I hope he comes back soon. I'll tell everyone he knows I'm looking for him.
video log
(aa) yawn damn i'm tired
(ak) um hello have you seen Joseph Andrew any wear
(aa)um have we met
(ak) o sorry Ayame kasagi
(aa)Alex Alcatraz
(ak) hay have you seen andrew
(aa)um know but ill keep an I out
(ak)thank you
audio log
sigh Andrew you dumb ass,so after talking to this chick named Ayame, who has this zombie look to her I started looking for Andrew and i checked every part of the base for a good while.found him in the damn therapist office.
video journal

(aa) yo doc can you give me and Andrew a minute
(t)um is it urgent
(aa) yes just leave
Therapist left the room
(ja) what do you want Alex
(aa) you remember a while ago when told you,you can come to me to help you with your situation
(ja) yea
(aa) well you didn't handle your problem. so sit down and were gonna talk , now is there some thing going on between you and Ayame
(ja) no
(aa) your lying
(ja) what make you think i'm lying
(aa) because a few days ago I went on a mission I got shot.
(ja) what does this have to do with
(aa) I'm getting there and when i got back to x-com when every one was asleep, I heard yelling coming from you and Ayame room, and then I heard a bottle hitting the wall, and you coming out looking depressed as hell
(ja)..........
(aa) so you wanna tell me the truth
(ja)..........
(aa)alright Andrews have it your way .but you still have to talk to her

(ja).......
(aa) look i'm gonna tell you some thing my dad told me.don't be afraid to fail .
(ja) what does that mean
(aa) Andrew you look like some one that is to talk to people manly the opposite sex am i right
(ja).......
(aa) ill take that as a yes look Andrew I know you think she is made at you. so i'm gonna tell you some thing else my dad told me. don't be afraid to try. which for you means go talk to here i know you think she i gonna tear your head off, but lite me tell you some thing about wemen. girls+booze=bad news all ways! so when wemen are drunk they say things they don't mean and i don't think shes mad at you I think shes worried about you.
(ja) you think so
(aa)yea when I saw her she looked sick with guilt. so when you see her again talk to her calmly alright
(ja)alright i'll talk to her.
(aa) good ou and Andrew
(ja) yea
(aa) if you two drink again cut her off a bout two drinks in ok
(ja) all right thanks Alex.hay Alex
(aa) yea why are you doing this
(aa) just being a good guy good luck
video logoff

 

[ZombieSlayer85]

(Andrew told Alex what happened)

(OOC): Alright, a little too far, man. Its bad enough that you keep putting words in peoples mouths without consulting them first, and I've held my tongue up until now, but Joseph would never, and I mean NEVER, tell Alex what happened between him and Ayame, not unless you tied him to a chair, held a gun to his head, and shot him up with about 7mg/kg of Sodium Pentothal. He's too respectful of Ayame to do otherwise. He wouldn't tell Davin, he wouldn't tell Anna, he wouldn't even tell Dr. Parker, and I control Dr. Parker, so why would he tell Alex, someone he barely knows? I just want ZombieSplitter53 to know I am not taking this post into consideration unless it is COMPLETELY edited.

And its Andrews, with an "S" at the end! Its spelled that way in every one of my posts, including my last one!

 

[Meaningofbread]

(OOC): Alright, a little too far, man. Its bad enough that you keep putting words in peoples mouths without consulting them first, and I've held my tongue up until now, but Joseph would never, and I mean NEVER, tell Alex what happened between him and Ayame, not unless you tied him to a chair, held a gun to his head, and shot him up with about 7mg/kg of Sodium Pentothal. He's too respectful of Ayame to do otherwise. He wouldn't tell Davin, he wouldn't tell Anna, he wouldn't even tell Dr. Parker, and I control Dr. Parker, so why would he tell Alex, someone he barely knows? I just want ZombieSplitter53 to know I am not taking this post into consideration unless it is COMPLETELY edited.

And its Andrews, with an "S" at the end! Its spelled that way in every one of my posts, including my last one!

Seconded. I honestly, truly did not want to say anything, but you are kind of forcing our hand here. If you would like to create conversations with other characters, please contact them over private messages. Also if you need any help with spelling and/or grammar checks, don't hesitate to PM me with the rough version of the entry.

 

[jimark]

¡Por el amor de dios! Barracks is turning into a telenovela these days, I hear shouting all day, bottles smashing, arguments. I think it is the lack of combat for these soldiers (and not soldiers). I've been doing something useful for a change, modifying our rocket launchers to shredders but that's it. Need to talk to someone, even I need visita sometimes. At this rate I'll have to go visit 'Dr James Parker PhD', you know what? I will.

 

[james love]

Name: James .c. Love
current rank: recruit
mission name: N/A
mission objective: N/A
kills this mission: N/A
total kills joining XCOM: N/A
status: healthy/depressed
promotion: N/A

journal entry: 07 / 02 / 13

well... Here I am at XCOM... a rare opportunity for a common sergeant in the army considering what I've heard so far I'm dealing with people of all creeds and nations... and I don't trust a damn one... hey at least there's a bar... so that's good.
I think that scruffson guy is the only one to seen these things before he came here and the only one whose life got messed up by these fucking... Oh what did they call them...a "sectoid" i think... anyway more importantly people keep saying these aliens have a plan and everyone has some other idea but all I know is that whatever it is I can't be good.

 

[Harley Sportster]

Name: Momma Bear
Current Rank: Assault
Mission Name: N/A
Mission Objective: N/A
Kills This Mission: N/A
Total Kills since joining XCOM: N/A
Status: Healthy
Promotion? N/A

What perfect timing – I just retired after 34 ½ years with the Paramilitary last Friday and was looking for something to do with my time, something I’ve never done before. Being with the Paramilitary was like being on a team that was similar to a professional military but we were not regarded as having a professional or legitimate status so I was never deployed as a military person until I got the call from my son to come and join X-COM as he needed me! (It will sure be different calling him Commander Odd but out of respect and admiration for all he is and all he has done – I will certainly be doing that and surely do not want/expect any special treatment either). He gave me the heads up that I would be going in as an assault – good thing I had all that Girl Guide training, as it will sure come in handy.

It didn’t take me long to pack, as I was already semi-packed hoping someday he would call and I would be recruited. Made my phone calls to family and friends to let them know of my new “adventure”. I already had support from my man – Gary so that was good!

Scotty, my younger son, said he wished I wouldn’t go. I told him that joining XCOM was on my “bucket list” and more importantly his brother needed me. You see, since his brother became the Commander of XCOM and moved so far away, they don’t see each other as often as he would like, and he really misses him. He was afraid that would happen to us as well (being that we live only 200 kilometers apart we would visit each other often). After a long conversation he finally understood and gave me his blessing. I told him that I would try to write each week or as often as I could. I hear it gets pretty chaotic at the base, so I’m not sure how much down time there is.

It will be nice to meet Scruffson as we seem to be around the same age. It will be interesting to see how he’s holding up compared to these young whipper snappers – it’s really too bad about his son…. perhaps he will feel comfortable talking with me. I hope so… he seems to have a lot of his mind and I feel I’m a good listener – or so I’ve been told.

Looking forward to joining the team – I hope I can keep up to newly promoted Cpl. Aribeth Dusk – wow she really kicked some alien ass out on Operation Forgotten Throne. As did Scruffson, Witkowski and Megaman X19, but Aribeth being another woman besides Kael … well you know - just saying…


Just a side note - as part of my retirement, I received a “story” made out of chocolate bars – you know where they substitute words with the actual chocolate bar – it read like this “May all your retirement dreams take you past

to the

"

I sure hope Commander Odd doesn’t find out – he gets pretty upset about those bars for some reason… he seemed to really like them when he was a little gaffer…

 

[Meaningofbread]

(OOC: Sorry, meant to write this yesterday, but it was Canada Day and I was on Capital Hill. Please excuse the lateness of this entry. :3)

Name: Aribeth Dusk
Current Rank: Corporal
Mission Name: Operation Forgotten Throne
Mission Objective: Clear Area and Exterminate all Hostiles
Kills this mission: 3
Total Kills since joining XCOM: 5
Physical Status: Healthy
Mental Status: Confident
Promotion: Squaddie ---> Corporal
Ability Taken: Sprinter

Combat log 04:

Log format: Text

HELL YES BABY!

Man, that was an exciting mission. WE TEARED THEM A NEW ONE.

Ok. To be perfectly honest, that was an easy mission. What were the sectoids doing out there? They were just walking into our lines of fire. Maybe because they expected us to land at Argentina, so they sent a weak squad to Russia. We pounded them into a fine mulch. stirred it up, threw it into a blender and poured it down a garbage chute. I had to prevent myself from high-fiving Scruffson after we were clear.

And you know all of that Origami I did? I had a white dove in my back pocket the entire time. I swear that helped. I hope I have redeemed myself.

You could never see the C.O happier. He walked into the landing bay with 4 different medals in hand, one for each of us. Of course, everyone got a promotion after such a wild face stomping.

By the way, I think my nickname for Witkowski is starting to catch on, everyone seems to be calling him "Dozer" now. I called him that when he shattered some glass and kicked open a door to get to us. Oh well, I guess it's kind of fitting.

Once I got promoted I was ordered to take extra speed training on the treadmills. Every day for a week. Apparently it will help me move faster under combat situations.

Anyways, I have to go find Rick, he seemed oddly absent from the pad today.

As always, Aribeth out!

 

[Rosen0x5]

Name: Riki Maru
Current Rank: Rookie
Mission Name: N/A
Mission Objective: N/A
Kills This Mission: N/A
Total Kills since joining XCOM: N/A
Status: Healthy
Promotion: N/A
Journal Entry:

Seems like we take 1 step and the aliens still end up 1 step ahead. With them attacking multiple locations around the globe theres nothing the Commander can do but pick and pray. Hopefully he can make the hard choices and decide who gets help and who dosnt.

The team that was sent to deal with the attack returned quicker than expected, seems like some of them are getting pretty confident with the promotions and all. Props to all of them for earning them, lets hope they dont go over their heads.


So far over the weak I have made notes on the X-rays Dr. Vahlen gave me and I was suprised how chaotic the alien body structure is. The "Sectoid" houses almost all of its vital organs in its head which would explain its size. From what I could gather its brain is seperated into 10 smaller pieces scattered around so that theres no fear of instant death upon brain damage. Same with its heart(s). The only advantage I could make of this is that every time it needs to move, it will lean its head over to the side where it will start running. This will make its movement predictable and an easy target.

The "Thin Man" however... seems to be of reptilian nature. Luckily its built like a chameleon so its scales dont act like armor but mearly as a camoflauge. They seem to be very mobile however making them unpredictable. I could not locate any advantages we could use against them other than they are easy to kill yet hard to hit.


I will meet the Doctor so that we may discuss these findings right after I write a report to the Commander containing my discovories. I will also credit Vahlen ofcourse as this would not be possible without her help.

Hopefully Commander Odd wont mind a common soldier hanging out with his research advisor.