X-COM Season 2 - Journals

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Sir Aroun

Member
Dear: Black Box Harddrive

I found my body! Well a body, it just a little robot down in the Engineering Bay not the big, armed combat drones I was made for but a body is a body. Lets see can get it on and to the others.
 

ChristopherOdd

Commander
Staff member
*EMAILED TO ALL XCOM SOLDIERS*

From: Mark 3: Spear of Athena A.I.

I don't have a body yet but I will keep you informed of what is going on in to research lab.

Done: Xeno-biolagy

*FILE FROM DESK OF DR. VAHLEN, NAME RESEARCH/XENO-BIOLAGY*
Proposal


It is crucial that we gain a thorough understanding of the alien physiology in order to develop weapons and tactics better suited to combating them.
Research Report

We've managed to successfully map the alien specimens entire genome, although I wasn't entirely sure it would be possible using our existing DNA sequencing techiques. However, our success has led to the startling realization that this creature's genetic structure is quite similar to our own. This discovery has piqued the interests of the research team, as it only raises more questions as to the origin of the species...
Having examined several of the alien corpses, we've also observed a trend - key components of the alien's genetic structure are mirrored perfectly across each of the specimens. Although it is presumptive at this point to draw conclusions as to how this is possible, I believe it is only logical to assume the alien is the product of aggressive genetic engineering, well beyond anything concieved of on Earth. If the aliens were capable of this sort of manipulation at a cellular level, I fear we may have only scratched the surface of their technological advantages over us.
In any case, further research is imperitive... and while we've obviously made a number of discoveries working with the alien corpses, I feel we may need to acquire a living specimen if we truly hope to find the answers.
Project Requirements

Research Cash Cost: §40
Project Cost: 4 Sectoid Corpse

*END FILE*

Being Researched: Weapon Fragments

Up For Research:

Arc Thrower (Labeled Priority by Dr. Vahlen)

Alien Materials

Sectoid Autopsy

Thats it for now but please come to the lab if you what to talk to me (they will not let me out)


email.PNG

( http://i.imgur.com/yHpUBay.png )
 

Sir Aroun

Member
(OOC: Dr. Weir is from "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified" and any info on him well be classified for RP matters because of the whole "Burn After Opening" theme of The Bureau)
 

Lethbridge_Gin

Active Member
Name:Trevor Conan
Status: off duty
Journal Entry: March 11 2015

Today Commander Odd sent this email to all troops.
yHpUBay.png


An AI on The base without Odd's call to say it is OK i think things will not go well with is AI and he is on about looking for the Moron with the Milky Way wrapper. I hope it does not like that joke from Robot Chicken the X-Men joke?? i will be sorry for that person if it happens :(
 

ZombieSplitter53

Game Master
Staff member
Name: Ayame Kasagi
Rank: Trainee

Historical Account #3:

The government officials who took me away likely looked at me as some blank slate they could mold to their liking, and they weren't too far off. The loss of my family left me emotionally numb for years, and my "care-givers" used this to their advantage. On the surface, I was adopted by the Emperor, for in the kindness of his heart, he took in this poor orphan who had lost everything. Whoever came up with that idea would be welcome by any modern day political party. In reality, they wanted to train me, believing that, if I could do that to over half a dozen armed bandits at the tender age of seven, imagine how strong I would be with proper training. The perfect government assassin.

Some of them feared making me stronger, while others simply hated the idea of training a female. I remember them trying to convince the others to simply kill me and get it over with, either oblivious to the fact that I was standing a few feet from them or, more likely, not caring if I heard them. Obviously, my training was done in secret. It was bad enough they decided to educate me, but if word got out they were teaching a girl to kill, to fight, or even to defend herself properly, it would have been a huge scandal.

I progressed far faster then they expected, and it became harder to find men who were willing to work with a child who was kicking their ass, let alone a girl. Because of this, the masters I worked with in the end were the most progressively minded towards gender relations, so that's something. I remained cold to everyone, likely my way way of dealing with my sadness. It was around the age of nine when I connected with the Emperor's daughter, Miao, that I opened up. I was put-offish towards her at first, convinced she was only nice to me because she was told to by my friend as a means to keep me in line, or at least keep an eye on me, and that was likely true at first. However, her sweet heart and seemingly unconditional kindness melted the icy barrier around my heart. She held me for hours as I finally cried over the lose of my family, and from then on, I spent every moment away from training and schooling with her.

At the age of twelve, I was sent on my first mission. I was to assassinate a corrupt business man whose double dealings left the pockets of some higher-ups lighter then they should have been. I snuck into his home as he was having his way with some poor young woman who obviously made some very bad decisions. As I held my blade to his throat, his crying pleads made me hesitate. Could I willingly take this man's life? Did I have the right, regardless of what he had done? My teachers had warned me not to stay my blade, but I couldn't help it. However, as I looked at the young woman near us, tears in her eyes, clothes in taters, I remembered that blank look in Guì yīn's eyes as those bandits had their way with her, and my hesitation waned. I thrust my sword into his neck, his blood spraying over me like some modern day anime. As I left, I warned the terrified woman that I would tell no one that she was here, because if it came to light that she was, I would have to track her down and kill her.

Someone once said that one of the worst things about killing is it gets easier every time you do it, and unfortunately, that is true. My success lend me to be sent on mission after mission, with me requesting to specialize in disposing of sexual deviants. It was a thankless job, with no one in the public eye knowing of my deeds to protect them, and no one who knew of me caring for my work, thinking of me as little more then a tool, a sword in the hands of the government. My only solace came from my time with Miao. I believe it was when I was about thirteen that I discovered that, while I wasn't completely unattracted to men, I also had feelings towards other women, particularly Miao. I could never tell her outright. Bisexuality wasn't persecuted nearly as much in China at that time as it was in Christian societies, but it was more a right of the men then women, and besides, she was the Emperor's daughter. I felt like she knew my feelings, though, and was very supportive of my sexuality despite her not caring for me "that way". She continued to be my strongest source of encouragement, up until the end.

Then, at the age of sixteen......
 

Scruffy

Member
Name: Sean Scruffson
Current Rank: Corpral
Mission Name: Operation Burning Heart
Mission Objective: Eliminate all hostiles in the Area
Kills This Mission: 1
Total Kills since joining XCOM: 6
Status: Healthy
Journal Entry:

It was only a few hours after I got back after the last mission when the alarms started going off again. It sucked because I hadn't had anything to eat in days but of course, the rest of the squd from the last mission and I got chewed out by the Commander because of a Milky Way wrapper. Personally, I saw no one eating anything last mission so it very well could have been the pilot. But that wasn't going to stop Commander Odd from having some massive manhunt.

This mission, two rookies and Nukey got to ride along. Nukey was excited but I was worried that he might be suffering a little bit about the new alchohal restrictions the Commander put out he other day. Since then, the guy's practically been a zombie.

The abduction site was located in America, my home country. Haven't been here in a while because of all the Xcom stuff, so it feels nice to be back home. As the ship landed, we bunched up to move over to a nearby van. I peek behind the van to survey the battlefield.
That's when I saw it.

A burger joint, right there in the middle of the parking lot, the biggest tease of my life. I was starving and the mission takes place at a restraunt. I knew at that moment, that this was going to be a difficult mission. Maybe after the mission I might swipe a burger or something.

Over by the restraunt, the rookie Trevor Conan takes a reaction shot, blowing apart a sectoid's head. As he does that, Nukey moves into the Burger place and tosses a gernade, killing another sectoid. I decided that I need some action and moved up by a window to look inside. I immediately spot a sectoid in the back and take him out before he could cause any harm. Nukey took it upon himself to get in close with the other bastard and blew his face off with the shotgun in his hands, the soda machine behind it exploding caffinated drinks. Before we left, I grabbed a wrapped burger from the counter and ate it on the way back to base.

When we got back, the Commander noticed the ketchup left on the floor of the ship. He was about to lose his mind when I told him that it was just a bit of blood from a cut I had from the mission. He believed me for the moment, but he gave me a suspicious look. I tried to avoid him for the next few days.
 

Frostlich1228

Well-Known Member
Name: Anna Stone
Status: Worried

Non-Combat log 9 :

Today I got up and started carving some figurines of the insect, I made about 6 and stood them up on the shelf above my bed, then I got up and walked outside planning to go downstairs and get some food, until I looked down and saw a little baggie with a note on it that said "For Anna", I picked the baggie up and saw that there was Baklava in it.
I was pretty sure Ayame got this for me considering that this was Imported from Moscow, so I took it in my room and chowed down
(It was Sooo good, good enough to take my thoughts off of the Insect for a little while)

Yesterday I found out that Ayame is just as skeptical of these reporters as I am, and that she agrees with me about Commander Odd helping America too much as well, she seems to shares my point of view about everything, its the reason why I like her so much.
I just feel so bad though, she loves me, I can see it in her eyes every time she looks at me, I wish I could love her back, but not only am I not gay, but my father taught me that Love has no place in a warzone, because if I happen to die, she will be so broken up about it, If I do die, I don't want her to be more hurt about my death, I just hope she understands...

Anyway...Something really scary just happened to me.
I was sitting in my room carving when this reporter walks in, he was Tall and Thin, and also wearing a Suit and Sunglasses, I didn't want to be interviewed so I stopped what I was doing and asked him to leave, but he just stood there, standing behind me,watching me carve.
I looked up from carving again to calmly tell him to leave (As we are not allowed to yell at the reporters) but he just kept standing there, at that point I just decided to ignore him, but about two or three minutes later he slowly walked up behind me and gently placed his hand on the back of my neck, I tried to hit his hand away, but for some reason, I couldn't move a muscle, I couldn't even blink, a minute or so later he took his hand off the back of my neck and I fell to the floor, paralyzed...

My eyes were open but I could not see because (For some reason) my vision had went dark, I could still breath, but only very, very, softly, I was motionless on the floor for about 15 or so minutes (It was hard to tell) when I heard someone come in, I did not know who it was, but it sounded like Ayame, I could only hear small bits of what she was saying though, she said things like "You're going to be okay" and "Don't worry, I am here", After a minute or so of that what I assume were the doctors rushed in and picked me up, I passed out very shortly after they did though.

I woke up in the med-bay just a little bit ago and the doctor told me I had some sort of Panic Attack, I Tried to tell him about the reporter but he replied with "You were just imagining that, Your distrust of the reporters has made you a little paranoid, but don't worry you'll be fine in the morning", he then walked out and told someone that I will be fine and that you can visit me tomorrow.

So right now I am writing this from the med-bay, waiting for tomorrow to get here so I can go back to my room.
But I still can't help but wonder if that weird reporter was real or not, maybe I did have some sort of panic attack like the Doctor said...

Could I really have just imagined all that?

*End of Recording*
 

Cheesypower

Member
Name: The Farmer

Current Rank: n/a

Status: En Route

The Cots on this boat are much too small for me. I'd put a table up against it to increase the space, but movable tables on an ocean vessel would be a hazard. Will probably end up putting the mattress in a corner somewhere. Maybe find a crate or container thing I can fit in? Eh, I'll figure something out. Meanwhile, I'll just keep writing to pass the time till I'm tired enough to fall asleep. Will probably get a bit disjointed as I go.

Let's see... Start with that incident in Los Angeles. Didn't mention it in my last entry, but rumors are spreading that these things are telepathic; get inside your head and make you go crazy. Thinking back on it, I seem to remember feeling a... feeling something. Like a... pressure on my head, like someone putting their palm on my temple and pushing, only instead of a hand it was... whispers... It's difficult to describe. Thing is, it felt very weak - like I was proving a tougher nut to crack than they'd anticipated. That, or they really are just babies.

Some of the crew were discussing the alien attacks. One of them was from Brazil, and seemed pretty upset that XCOM decided to help Los Angeles while Brazil and The United Kingdom were also getting hit. I hadn't realized XCOM was in Los Angeles, though it would explain why the military was having such an easy time keeping the situation under control. While I sympathized with him, XCOM made the right decision. The US is the world's number one exporter of grains, exporting 51,455 thousand metric tons last year, compared to the 12,215 thousand metric tons exported by Argentina, the second largest exporter. It's why America is sometimes called "the world's breadbasket." It's why Americans in general are fatter than other countries' populations. And it's why America's safety is so important. If anything happens to America's ability to export crops, food prices the world over will skyrocket. You think alien invasions cause a panic? Wait till you see what happens when a loaf of bread costs twenty dollars.

I've never really thought about it before, but I just realized that wars of ideology are never actually about ideology. Sure, ideology is the justification, but it's never the true motivation. The Crusades? The Pope needed a way to keep the nobles and rulers of Europe from constantly warring with each other. The War of the Rose in England? English Nobles trying to gain the crown. The constant conflict between Israel and the Middle East? Pakistan saying "that land is ours" and Israel saying "no, we're our own country." Sun Tzu was right: war is always a means to a political end. I just wonder why it's always God that people blame for every instance where someone claimed to fight for God. It's like that saying from Lincoln: "If you take a dog and call it's tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? Four. Calling it a leg doesn't make it a leg."

Just reread that last part. Guess I'm finally getting tired enough to sleep. That corner in the galley looks stable.
 

ChristopherOdd

Commander
Staff member
Name: Christopher Odd
Rank: Commander

Journal Entry #2:

I'm trying to remain level headed and not make irrational choices.

Trying is the key word.

My little birdy told me that some of the recruits are questioning my choice in helping America while leaving other higher panic countries to fend for themselves. While I can understand their concern, they need to see the big picture. America was chosen because of it's 6 Engineer offering. Those engineers get us closer to all of the facilities and weaponry that we need. Why is it that I even pay heed to the gossip among the recruits? Should I care about what others think? I AM THE COMMANDER OF THIS OPERATION. But what if I fail them? There are lives on the line. To this point, only minor injuries have occurred, but it's going to get much more difficult. Hopefully my informant keeps feeding me information. I'd rather keep my relationships with the recruits distant.

Meanwhile, I've noticed some changes as a result of the alcohol reduction. While I didn't originally want to ban it, the soldiers have definitely responded as if it was a ban. We'll drink after a recruit loses their life.

Shen wants to grab a bite to eat, but I'm not sure I can handle it. The way this man chews his food... it's like he's trying to speak russian with socks in his mouth. Last time, a piece of his steak ended up on MY shirt. He's a great guy and everything, but he really needs to learn some manners.

Something that's been on my mind lately is that I really need to talk to Dr. Vahlen. I feel like she's been making passes at me, and I'm not sure what her motives are. I know that her research unit is her #1 priority, and I'm concerned that her interests are not genuine. I'll feel this out and see where it goes, but I am not in the right frame of mind for a relationship right now.

I'm still debating about who I should take on this next mission. I have this gut feeling that it's going to be a fatal choice. Nobody has stepped up and shown that they want to be a part of the mission. I'll wait a couple more days to see if someone does something pro-actively before I send an XCOM wide email.

Speaking of emails, there is some AI on-board. What the hell? Aliens are one thing, but an intelligent being, operating from within a computer? What the hell? Do I need to worry about this thing? Perhaps I should ask some of the more tech oriented recruits if they know anything about how to handle this intrusion. Ugh, that would involve actually fraternizing with these guys, and I'm not sure I want that perception. Maybe it's not an intrusion at all. Everything should be fine. Right?
 

Meaningofbread

Well-Known Member
Name: Aribeth Dusk

Status: Lightly Wounded

Non-combat log 10:

Log Format: Video


The sounds of a voice, in mid-panic attack can be heard, followed quickly with a cuss, and then Aribeth's face appears on the cam-corder.

Okay,Okay,Okay,Okay. Breathe... BREATHE.... IN... OUT... IN... OUT.... ahhhhh...

Aribeth looks as if she is trying to clear her mind, she closes her eyes, breathes in one more time, and exhales.

I was thinking about the mission with the Triad a bit more today, and I was wondering if I should volunteer. No-one else has stepped up to the plate, and I thought to my self, "Why not?".

But the problem was, the closer I got to the CO's office, the more doubts I was beginning to have. Each step towards the door was like trying to walk through quicksand. As I got closer and closer, I knew I wanted to change my mind on it.

And there I was, in front of the door. Pretty much contemplating my own mortality at this point.

"I don't want to die."

I kept thinking.

"I don't want to die."

I had my hand near his door, ready to knock.

"I don't want to die."

I lowered my hand and I started pacing around the hallway.

"I don't want to die."

This continued for about 20 minutes.

Then I noticed a small camera above the door. A light was on. It was coloured red.

Does that mean it was on? Or off?

I sure as (expletive deleted) didn't know.


Ok. I can't talk anymore, need some rest, maybe I'll think about it some more tomorrow.

...... Aribeth.... Out....
 

pete60750

New Member
OOC
Name: The Farmer

"If you take a dog and call it's tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? Four. Calling it a leg doesn't make it a leg." - what if the dog was an amputee, or some weird five-legged mutant? Just saying.
 

ZombieSplitter53

Game Master
Staff member
Name: Ayame Kasagi
Rank: Trainee
Status: Pissed

Audio Log, March....ah, who cares!

DAMN IT! (BAM!) (Sound a wall crumbling)

(Sound of angry pacing)

Everything was going so well! I was feeling energized. Aribeth was recovering quickly. I even had a good talk with Joseph, and I hopefully made him feel better about himself.

I was on my way back to the barracks to tell Anna that I was thinking of letting Joseph into the loop, and ask her what she thought the best approach would be, since I've never had to tell a man before. Besides, I got her a gift, and I wanted to see how she liked it. It wasn't easy to get, I had to cash in a favor with Shaojie Zhang, my contact in the Triads. He assured me it was "just like mother's home cooking". Obviously, my mother never made baklava, but he also said it was from the best restaurant in Moscow, so I took his word for it.

And what do I find? Anna, collapsed on the floor! (BAM!) (Crumbling sound) I was so afraid I was crowding her that I left her unguarded. Я так глупо! Now I know how she felt when she found me. I yelled for someone to call a doctor; I don't know who did, I yelled it so loud someone on the surface probably heard me. I held her in my arms while we waited for them, telling her everything would be okay, terrified that I might be wrong about that. Five hundred years, and I never bothered to learn a healing spell. Hindsight can be a bitch! I could tell from her glazed-over eyes and shallow breathing that she was paralyzed. I looked her all over for some kind of puncture wound, hoping the baklava wasn't poisoned. All I could find was an odd discoloration on the back of her neck, like a bruise but not bulging like one. The medics finally showed up, but once we got her to the infirmary, they kicked me out! (BAM!) (Wood Splintering) Yúchǔn de, tā mā de, zhīdào tā, suǒyǒu de yīshēng! Panic attack, my ass! I think some of Anna's other friends were there, but I was too pissed off to pay attention. I swear, they better not try to stop me from seeing her tomorrow!

(Angry sigh) I need to calm down. Its bad enough I'm gonna have to convince maintenance to give me a new table, and that I have no idea where the holes in the wall came from. I'm just gonna have to bide my time until I can talk to Anna. I'll head to gym, maybe take my aggression out on the new heavy bag.
 

Hueyk

New Member
Name: Huey Kruthas
Rank: Squaddie
Status: Physical: Healthy, Mental: Edgy


While I'm glad that the Commander decided to save L.A I can't believe I didn't get to come along. I wonder if it is because it is my home town...

I can barely keep myself together while I know a big op is going on. There is nothing I can do to help them along, but it feels like every second that goes by lasts a lifetime. All I can do is keep my body in peak physical shape so I can support when needed.

I've been sharing S.E.A.L tactics with other recruits to pass the time. I find some of the recruit choices for this project to be... questionable to say the least. Most members don't have any military background at all. Most seem to have been recruited simply because they have a history with the aliens. I suspect that the white coats upstairs have some way of seeing potential in the recruits beyond field testing.

These dreams are what really get me though. It's the same dream every night, with only a few differences. It's always a battlefield, us versus the aliens. We are always bearing down on them, taking them out left and right. Then, a blinding white light. When the light fades me and at least one other teammate are injured. I don't know what it means... I'm not one to believe in superstitious non-sense, but I hope the dreams stop before too long..

I hate to end the journal on a sour note, but I'm expected at the gun range in 5 minutes, Huey out.
 

ZombieSlayer85

Active Member
Name: Joseph Andrews
Rank: Trainee

Off Base Two-Way Video Feed, Audio Log #2

Video Feed [1]: (Jessica Andrews) Uh...h-how are you doing?
Video Feed [2]: (Joseph Andrews) I'm good, I'm good. I, uh, I just wanted to say I'm sorry I was so pushy before. I shouldn't have tried to make you talk about anything you didn't want to talk about.
[1]: T-that's okay. I'm sorry I...
[2]: No, no. You did nothing wrong. Lets just talk about something (BAM!)...
[1]: What was that?
[2]: I'm not sure, it sounded like a sledgehammer. I'll check it out later.
[1]: O-okay.....did you, did you fight an-anymore of the monsters?
[2]: Well, I haven't, but some of the other guys did.
[1]: Did anyone get hurt this time?
[2]: No, they kicked alien butt!
[1]: Haha. Where did they fight?
[2]: Some burger place in California. Everyone was kinda hard on the Commander for helping America over the other places, but I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Maybe I just think that just because I'm American, though.
[1]: W-why did they attack a burger place?
[2]: I....uh, I'm not sure. I guess they were hungry. Maybe they had really good burgers (BAM!).....Huh? ...uh, what was I saying?
[1]: How are y-your friends doing?
[2]: Well, they were fine until about an hour ago. Ayame found Anna collapsed in her room. The doctors said she just had a panic attack, but they wouldn't let us see her, so I'm not sure. I'm upset, but Ayame's really (BAM!) what is that? Is someone doing construction?
[1]: It sounds like someone's breaking things?
[2]: Hm, weird. Things have been kinda strange around here lately, ever since the Commander let those reporters in.
[1]: What's going on?
[2]: Its just that, in my dreams, I keep seeing these strange eyes, bright yellow and reptilian. Plus I had this awkward encounter with one of the reporters.
[1]: What d-did he look like?
[2]: Really tall and gangly, and way skinnier then a healthy person should be.
[1]: W-was he wearing a s-suit and sunglasses?
[2]: Yeah, how did you know?
[1]: T-the doorway.
[2]: The door....Jeez! Man, you scared the hell out of me. Uh.....can I help you?.....look, if this is about the other day, I said I was sorry.....well, say someth......uh, bye. Well, that was strange.
[1]: W-what do you think he wanted?
[2]: I don't know? Maybe he was just nosey.....uh, hm, oh, I think we've gone over our allowed time. Next time, we'll have to talk more about you then me.
[1]: O-okay. M-maybe we can talk about me moving t-to XCOM.
[2]: I told you, I don't think the Commander would go for it. I couldn't care for you while in training, so you'd be by yourself. I promise I'll put in the request, but please don't get your hopes up.
[1]: I u-understand. Thank you.
[2]: Have a good night, Jessica. I'll talk to you soon.
[1]: Goodnight Joey. And please, don't work to hard.
[2]: You no I never do.
*End transmission*
 

Zanza

Member
Name: Thomas Witkowski
Rank: Squaddie

An email just went out today. Somehow a fully sentient (sapient? I always get those two mixed up) AI has made its way into the base. First it was Aliens, next was the rumors about a ghost , and now we have a rogue AI on board. Seriously, what's next? Zombies?

On a different note, one of the trainees had a panic attack earlier and passed out. I think her name was Stone. One of the other trainees was yelling up a storm outside the med-bay; she kept switching up languages, so I had no idea what she was saying. Combat isn't really for everyone, and the trainees might be starting to crack under the pressure.

In other news, still can't find anyone to play cards with. Not entirely sure if that's a good thing or not. I wonder if its the helmet?
 

BMPixy

Well-Known Member
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 [REDACTED], Two Thousand and Fifteen--

Geez, not even a month in, and people are already having panic attacks. Fellow soldier named Stone. Hope nobody cracks like that on a mission, last thing we need is for somebody to pass out in a firefight. Of course, I’m probably the last person to talk on the matter of panic attacks, considering mine led to me being here....mayhaps I should speak with her? Yeah, probably should. I’ll take care of that tomorrow.

In other news, the janitor cleaned up my salt piles, and the mess chief is getting suspicious of where the salt is vanishing off to, so I can’t refresh the piles. Doesn’t matter honestly, saw that creepy suit again before he vanished through a salt-lined door. Went to go after him, but the door was locked. Was very odd, didn’t see a keyhole on the door, so not sure how it could have been locked.

And finally the rumour mill gives me some useful, albeit late, news. There’s a new objective for the squad. Capture an alien. I can see the line of logic behind that. Capture it, water-board it until it spills the beans, the dispose of it. Of course, there is the matter of language, which might be hard to overcome, considering those....'sectoids' have no mouths and their language sounds like Satan’s dial tone. Hope the research and engineering teams have figured out how to break that particular barrier.

And then there’s the matter of-

The Megaman 3 theme song begins playing, albeit muffled.

The hell, I get cell reception down here? Huh, it’s bro’s wife. Hello?

Jane, what happened? You sound downright distraught!

What do you mean he’s missing? Where was he last?

Gl-glasgow? Oh bollocks....

Y-you didn’t see the news? Glasgow...it suffered an abduction. Dammit! Dammit!!

Listen, if he doesn’t show up in the next week or so....best arrange the funeral. Dammit... I’m sorry Jane...I-I’m so sorry. I’ll talk to you later...

I need to have words with the Commander. Foulke, out.
 

Presariov

Member
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}
So earlier today, the Commander informed us all of an AI that found it's way into the base. Now, I might be crazy, but I think one of the abandoned labs was titled something like "nanotechnology and artificial intelligence networking." Now, I've been known to jump to conclusions in the past, but if you have one abandoned AI lab in a base that's been infected by an AI, one might think they're related. I think I'm going to go back down there again tonight, but I'm kind of nervous. Something didn't feel right in there...
{02}
Alright, I just got back. Here's the play by play:
I started making my way down to the labs, but on the third level, a soldier I haven't met kept giving me a suspicious look and blocked the elevator, so I ducked inside of the cafeteria to get away from him.
Once in there, I couldn't exactly go back out, so being the former-infiltration expert that I am, I climbed up to the vent. The base is secured in case of an alien attack, so it's fortunate that, unbeknownst to the commander, I keep my infiltration gear on me. Once the grate was off, I climbed into the dusty ventilation shaft. Looking out of the other grates as I crawled, I traced my way past the soldier to the elevator shaft. I had not considered the elevator might be on a lower level, though.
I jumped from the vents to a small ledge about seven feet down. I landed hard, banging my knee on the hard concrete. I don't think it's broken, but it hurts like hell. I lowered myself onto a ladder and began to climb down the shaft. Once I got to the fifth level, I limped down the main hallway and around the third corner like last time. Sliding the metal bulkhead to the side, I entered the concrete passage.
My dried blood was still on the floor and I didn't see any extra footprints, so I don't think anyone's been there since I was there the first time. When I got inside, I kept noticing weird kind of waves and ripples in the darkness, like a moving shadow in the corner of my eye. I found the nanotechnology and AI lab, the door still welded shut. Then I remembered the hole in the wall in the next door office. I walked in and was instantly hit with a massive feeling of dread. As I made my way to the hole, it was like walking in water, except instead of water there was just the shadows. I climbed through the hole and into the lab, and blacked out.
When I woke up, it was past 11:00 pm, nearly forty minutes later. When I stood up, a huge wave of transparent colors swam in front of me in a wave, heading out of the hole and presumably out of the labs. Rather than trying to follow the wave, I picked up my flash light and began to look around the room. the half of the room by the door looked almost identical to the one next to it, but across from the door was a large cave. The cave was unnaturally dark, like someone had taken the wall and ripped it out of reality. I was about leave when I noticed a red light coming from within. Walking into the cave, I realized that it was a lot deeper than it appeared.
I found that the red light was coming from an enormous machine, secured to the caves walls by metal tentacles. As I gazed in awe of the bizarre machine, a panel opened near the bottom of the machine and a cloud of tiny specs flew out of it and surrounded me. They started to shift in different colors and formed a sort of screen with text on it. From all around me in the cloud, I heard tiny voices ask if I was the one, the text on the screen typing out the same thing. On the other side of the cavern, a large pale white light turned on, revealing something that looked like a chair surrounded by screens.
Everything after that was a bit of a blur. I know I ran out of the cave and the lab, I know I felt something hit me and I know I was knocked over backwards. I must have gotten up and made it out, and I think I closed the panel back up. I know that when I got back to my barracks and sneaked past my rackmates, I found a tiny circular puncture wound in my cheek and a bloody nose, a killer headache from my fall and a sore knee.
Despite every bit of common sense I have, I still want to go back down and see it again. I need to find out if this machine is going to be a threat to X-com, and whether or not it's related to the AI that's in our computers. And if that involves more infiltration, then so be it. I'm not above a little espionage, but I think I'm going to tell someone about that place. Not the commander or any of the high officers, but maybe one of my rackmates...
Journal End
 
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