Just when you thought it was safe to... TFTD, the soldier genocide simulator.

[Saphroneth]

"Oh, Synomium. Well, I preferred the first version. It made sense."
"Spread out and stay sharp. We don't know how well defended this place is."


Well, time to do my duty.


"What was that?"
"I think we just nearly got jammed!"
"Right. Everyone set to analogue cyclic on the Grav com. Frequency switch pattern zulu-6."
"Zulu-6, aye."

"Those pillars are disguised lifts! Everyone alert, danger close! Firing one stun!"

"Still here. These launchers are really something."


I will not be stopped.
"Boson! Report in, enemies neutralized?"
Four above, three so far down here.
"We'll just leave you to it, then."


"Big gold pipes. Staircase. Central position. Massive tower. I think we've found the device."
"I hear you. All hands, converge on the marked point on the map."

"Woah! Smillie here, looks like we missed one."

"Damn... that's our interior position. Detachment, clear that area of hostiles!"


"One down, but I think there's more."


"Ew. Looks like the spire's properly guarded."

"Not really."


"Chaaaarge!"
"Able seaman, what are you-"

"I'll be damned. It worked."
South flank, his nearly clear.


"Okay, storm team ready?"

"Yes, sir."
"BRAIN!"
*splutch*
"And that is how we handle alien brains. With drills. Now, someone hand me a primed pulser."
"You think the main room might be guarded?"
"Of course I do. I'm not stupid."


"Well, there it is. Fire in the hole!"
"Get down!"

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves,  And the mome raths outgrabe. All shall know the glory of the Sleeper. So it is written, So it shall be. A small intrusion on the perfect readiness. It is of us. It is ours. It is-*
It is, in fact, a high power sonic explosive.
*BLAM*


"Target confirmed destroyed. The Hyper net reports the emissions have ceased."

"Right. Everyone fall back to the closest exit, we're getting out of here!"
"Boson, fall back!"

They have come. Not one, but many. They died. Not one, but many. I am victorious.

Bosun Axel Higgs reporting southern flank clear.


Higgs got a good nine or ten of the kills on that mission. We had to leave the stunned aliens behind, partly because someone set an antimatter demo charge on too short a fuse.
The base wasn't destroyed, but it's sunk at least fifty meters into the delta foreslope. About all we could ask for.

We stopped them. This time.

[Saphroneth]

You know that horrible yawning sensation you get when every one of your worst fears falls slightly short?
They actually built a ship around a W'rkncacnter. And they crashed it into Earth.
They gave a creature made of pure hunger, malice and energy... a spaceship. This wasn't some sort of strange corruption of life by the energies of the sleeping monster. This was planned.

Well, looks like we have our objective, anyway. The scientists tell me that we need an Alien Commander to get the precise coordinates of the portal in the T'Leth Physical Cloak, and also to know how deep the ocean really is off the Yucatan Peninsula.
Only Alien Commander rank known? Lobstermen.

Too far away.
That's better, now-
Oops.
Right, second time lucky?
...at least the guns work.
This looks large enough to not blow up.
Finally!


One over there, sir. Shall I?
"No, we have something to test."


"Wow, this feels strange. It's like... there's almost no mind in here at all. Just a barrier. This thing's operating on programming."

Enemies, but I don't recognize the weapons.
"I do. Ardune warhead!"
"I have attained control. Firing one."



"Not even blaster bombs can crack that stuff."


"We are done here."




This is sufficient gun. The thing's ridiculous! Quarkium is three times as destructive as pure antimatter, by weight, and they make a handheld launcher out of it.





We may now have the necessary equipment to attempt to capture a Lobsterman Commander.
Also, because the scientists have been getting uppity, we set them researching better money makers.

[Saphroneth]

Ooh, Lobster Men. Unlikely to be a commander, but we'll use it as a test run.


"Spread out. Any contact, report it to the MC corps."
"Got one!"

"Woo, that was easy. Looks like their exoskeletal armour is powered, and controlled by a Molly link - in other words, a backdoor."
"Molly?"
"-cular control."
"Fair enough."


"Right... now just a stunbomb and..."
*krrsh*

Easy.
"Oh, that reminds me. We're getting a new draft. Diverted from the Belt, whole ship, faked it's destruction, they won't know the truth until they're inside the shields. Means you lot are cadre."
Lots of Mustangs there.
"Actually... did any of us even take OCS?"
"Nope. Well, a few are taking command track on our spare time, but apart from that we're just muddling through. Except the Boss, of course."
And I promote ONLY the ones who are qualified.

Looks like skipping this thing was a good idea.
Firing tests show that it's rubbish against Aqua materials. So Aliens. It's an anti-human weapon safe to use by alien troops. Fan-TAS-tic.

What's a technician? At least, doing on a ship.

Out of range.
We will elide the shooting down scene.

Fully 20 new recruits. Get them MC tested, then reassign the poor scorers to the decoy base in Manila and give them false intel. Best bit is, that way we don't have to pay them. They get paid by the Manila local council - it's complicated.

Oh, OK. They use nautical terms too.

Boom again.


All hands order: We are attacking the Alien Colony in the Mediterranean. Our objectives are to neutralize the synomium device for the base, hence disabling the perimeter guns; to capture alive the base commander, probably a Lobsterman; to generally obtain intel on enemy movements and equipment.


The return.

Got it? Glowy lift, ring thing, boom, commandy bloke, awaaaay!
The sub made it under the scans by a risky move of a massive MC-based attack on one of the turrets, suppressing it for long enough to dart under the engagement envelope. No use for attack craft, anything able to crack the base proper would have to do it from far enough away that the guns would have clear LOS, but perfect for an action group.

"Ready? Go!"

Our foe is on high.
"Gotcha, Merlin. Someone try an em-cee."
"Got'em."

"Woo, that's strange. Sort of a jellyfish. Okay, spread out and keep moving, slowly!"


"Guard taken over here. Tasoth, sonic cannon. I think this place has big, heavy weapons for defence."
"Jellyfish no longer needed. Blast it."

"Damn, missed."
Avaunt!

"Well, that worked."
...
"...coming around into the east quadrant, I - hang on."
"Yeah, there we go. Aquatoid, right behind the door. I managed to get the drill out in time. Oh, hel-lo."

"I want."

The central structure is occupied!

"Krug here, patching into enemy MC net... Okay, scared now. The enemy have many, many DPLs in here."

"Ah well. I'll use them for a noble purpose. Ooh, one of those brain things Many of those brain things, widely separate. At least I can get one. Target locked."

"And another."

"Damn! Targeting pattern rejected, it hit the roof. The Aliens survived."

[Saphroneth]

"Wait, the tentacle brain thing's moving, it-ogod"
"Aw, that's not right."

"Did it just... infect the Aquatoid?"
"It's like a Chryssalid. An underwater chryssalid that can swim. Synaptic shock engaged."
"Did it work?"
"I think so, the shock the Aquatoid gave it seems to have terminated the growing new tenta- Tentaculat"
"Right. Everyone watch the hell out for those things, they're now Threat Alpha."
"I've got another DPL user, I'm going to blast that room off the face of the seabed."



"Upper floor clear. Lower floor - there's still some Tasoth, and it's the lift room. Everyone get on the Disruptors and make them disarm."

"Tasoth scout reveals that there's still some in the north east annexe. Including another DPL."


"All remaining Aliens no longer a threat. Neutralize them."





"Damn! Just like the artifact site, we're separated again."
"Everyone stay calm, spread out - slowly - and keep in touch. Report any sightings."
"Johnston here. I see a Lobsterman, skip."

"Got it for you."
"Thanks, Krug, I-"


"Well?"
"Omega report from her armour. She got infected right through the armour, it began a zombie stage, then she dumped the suit reactor."
"At this depth, that would just mean she'd be crushed instantly when the pressure disequilib field shorted, or fried by the power flare. Whichever came first."
"Yes. I think - I think she decided that if the pressure didn't kill the infection the flare would."


"Another lobster. Right, just got to-"

"Man stunned! Someone get over there and revive him, or we'll have to leave him when we get out!"
"We're not leaving him. I'll go. Either he gets up or I carry him."

"Okay, I found the control room! Synomium device, two unarmed Lobstermen and one with a gun, it fits the bill perfectly! Krug, MC please."
"I have them."

"Right. Everyone bring them back to the lift, kill the device and we are OUT of here!"
"Good thing I got Carl back up then."

"My hand... isn't green. And neither is my other hand! Wow!"
"He's... able to move. Not much more positive to say there."


"And there goes the device."
"Surface command confirms that active emissions from the enemy net have stopped. They are bringing in the container ship with the miniaturized Ardune IV warhead."


"Enemy stunned. We have two Commander rank Lobstermen ready for evac."
"Surface copies. Your ride is ready and waiting."


It's a pity - a dreadful, terrible pity - about Uma. 25 missions, 14 killed, second in command of the fighting units. She will be mourned, and honoured.

Dead woman's shoes.
Distasteful business - but we needed the slots filled.
And our hard won gains are already being put to good use.

Ve haff ways of making you talk. Mainly involving butter, boiling water, and other sea food accoutrements.

[Saphroneth]

(Unfortunately the screenshots were lost in the most recent session. Here follows a quick summary.)

The interrogation on the enemy Commander went off without a hitch (as did the Commander's carapace in the process) and we found the truth. A series of arcane equations to solve to pierce the illusion (sort of like a tunnel, but only apparent if it's being driven through), and that the final generation submarine will need to be capable of descending to nearly twenty miles deep in the ocean.

This impossibility adds to the others we've encountered, and suggests there may be no actual crust below T'Leth itself, instead the mantle being directly below the colony ship.
Regardless, the design of the final sub has begun.

In the meantime, a couple of alien craft were hit, gaining us more Blasta ammunition from the unused Alien rifles as well as a precious load of Zrbite - fuel for the Leviathan.


Our funding report for the month was universally positive from all members, the back channels allowing more money than usual. It's nice that saving the world is appreciated.

In addition, the troop segregation occurred. The Deep 13 base were assigned to work on plans to attack a conjectured Alien base on Europa. It's actually fairly sensical from what we knew before the colony raid and what's not classified. Hopefully that will throw the enemy off the scent, especially as Grand Banks is now staffed exclusively by MC Strength 50 troops or above. (Apart from Smillie who's new job is to watch anime. We think the Aliens will just come away with the idea we use giant robots and music in combat.)


September began with an alert: An Alien Artefact site had activated. This time the device was located off Cuba, and the on-alert surface ships raced there to drop an Ardune bomb past the PD. Disabling which was the primary team's job.

The Captain insisted on going herself, and her report indicates that the Aliens are stepping up their use of Ardune weapons of their own in the perimeter defence role. This is worrying, and may indicate T'Leth is awakening more fully.
Regardless, the team made it in and out without a hitch, Broomski even managing to Molecularly Control several of the Tentaculat creatures, one of the ensigns risking her life to retrieve a live, stunned, sample.
Investigation is pending more urgent research.

The device was destroyed by Sonic fire from Merlin, accompanying the assault, and the base subsequently scoured by Ardune IV.

Remaining missions in he next two days were short and mainly mopping up affairs against Lobsterman submarines, but on the 3rd a Dreadnaught with Aquatoid crew once more broke through the perimeter minefield and attacked the base.

[Saphroneth]

"Action stations! Mark'em for the psis and keep moving."

Got one, sire!

"Ooh, the one in the bottom of the lift has a stun launcher!"


"More enemies! Stun away!"



"Trying to hide, eh?"

"No chance!"


"Woo, stunbomb close. Woozy..."


No.

"That's a full bag, guys! We got nine of them alive!"

Not bad. Of course, we got all their weapons too.

More lobsters.
Ah, finally.

No more needs to be said.

Now that, that is a submarine indeed.
If we had a path for it to take, it could probably travel a magma chamber to a good hundred miles depth. As it is, we must merely delve the deepest place in the oceans, by a factor of three.

The work of deciphering the waypoint sequence is underway.
And construction begins on the Gandalfr.

You know, the drill.
That works best on Aliens.

See?

Ooh, handy. More precious Zrbite. Fuel for the Left Hand of God.

Oh, crap.
The entire colony ship is a gigantic animation failsafe now? We're in serious trouble. Only one thing to do, then - stop the Sleeper. Anything that can prevent a creature that close to death from actually dying is probably rather delicate. Break it, and the first opening in the prison will be entropy and death.
Also, strangely a man in a tweed jacket and a bow tie ran past when the information came up, stared at the screen for a moment, and left shouting about waterways. He was not found on a later search of the base.

Ewwwww.
I begin to suspect we know where Lovecraft's dreams came from, actually.The Sleeper may have influenced us more than we know.

What.
That's the Grand Banks, you twit! Continental Shelf. Not too deep for you at all.

Better.


Routine.

So, to sum up. We are almost certainly all going to die or worse. Some madman is running around and can't be found anywhere. And we're sending our best and brightest down to do the bloody deed in only a few weeks.

Someone get a really, really good drink.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

*snerk* Loved the Doctor running through it.

[Saphroneth]

Ah, good, someone noticed. And this won't be the first the Doctor sees of XCOM, either.
...ah, I love Moffat's ideas even as I consider that the man is a Kish'ta incubus. Who else would muck about with the implications of Time Travel so much?

[Saphroneth]

These keep showing up - but usually at night, which makes them a pain to assault.
Right now, keeping our forces intact is more important.

That thing is just a little ridiculous.
Why bother with a titanium skeleton? It already has an EXOskeleton - they actually made a chordate hybrid out of an arthropod.

Not much of a threat.
Big jellyfish, not even a triploblast.
So far, the alien creatures seem to be some kind of mix and match between Cambrian explosion era life, and human concepts. I swear the Tentaculat is based off a Grell...

The Left Hand of God. The Gandalfr.
Why yes, our construction team were watching Familiar of Zero when we built it. Why?

Ooh, could be tricky-
Ah well.

What.
What.

Alien lizard people infiltrating the government with psychic powers!

So, that's what Troodon evolved into.
Total mind screw, this alien threat.
And for some completely unknown reason, the research on the origins of this strangely terrestrial species turned up something else.
I don't see the logic either.
Flash Learning? Brilliant, now we're fighting the Clone War.
At least the Clones are a bit naff. I mean, these things make little sense. They seem to be poorly adapted for both surface and underwater life.

The Afrika Korps have surrendered? I never trusted Future Rommel.
Oh, Africa corp. I forgot about them. Well, we're clearly doing OK if we get that much money increase despite losing a source.


And there goes Beacon Three.
Wow. Not counting rearmament time and loading time, the Leviathan just made it to Sao Tome in an hour.

"Right, spread the MC network. I want the surface guard wiped out."

"Good, keep it up."


"Stun bomb!"

"Crap, grenades!"


"I got them, but I'm wounded. Someone get over here with a med kit!"



This area is clear.


"Okay, SWS forward and take out the device. Everyone else, MC support."



"And if I do that, then - yes! Tentaculats are turning on one another!"

Synomium device disabled, I will fall back.

Device disabled, no casualties except for a bad case of freezer burn on the stunned Aquanaut and a week in hospital for Carl.

...ew. That makes even less sense than the Lobster Man.
These things are more like golems than actual organisms.

Probably explains these, too.
Always with the airborne.

Carl is still in traction.
The essence of a routine mission.

Okay, enough is enough.
You Fail Biology Forever. Genetic modification does not work that way! Lobsters can't have internal skeletons without messing up their structure, they can't get that BIG without being unable to breathe; there is no such thing as a pure amphibian amniote species because gills evolved into the jaw in tetrapods and colloquial amphibians solve the underwater breathing with their skin - not possible above a certain size - so the Gill Men make no sense; it is not possible to cross breed members of different species by definition let alone creatures from entirely different biospheres, not unless you transpose a lot of genetic traits by cross referencing that takes more effort than just inventing what you want; and you can't, you REALLY can't, have a creature that's been in stasis since before the Iridium Horizon be a descendant of the SECTOIDS!

Phew, that's been coming for a while.
So, we have a choice. Either the Aliens are so insane, so...well, alien - that they do things in this manner because it makes most sense to them, or the Sleeper is warping reality to an extent that these things DO make sense.
I really, really hope it's the first option.

[Saphroneth]

Most of the positive stuff here is a lie.
After the scientists proudly delivered the finished prototype, the Captain took it without a word, beckoned them down to the basement, plugged it into the wall, and fired it at a Lobsterman front armour plate.
Twenty shots later, the Gauss rifle was too hot to touch and the armour plate had a small dent in it.
The scientists were told to do something useful, like study Gillmen or something.

Meanwhile...
The routine continued.
One enemy ship was downed north of Crete, among the islands of the Aegean sea.


Routine, by now.




The hardest part is finding the enemy, at least here, where the lines of sight are too long for them to ambush us.
Wow, one survived being shot.

More lies. The thing's okay, but not against aliens - most of the powerful ones only take about 50% of the projected damage.

Seriously. No.
Hmmm... you have to wonder why it took so long for Japan to get involved.
WHAT!
This makes un-sense. Didn't we establish that the Gill Men were underwater for over fifty million years? There is literally... gah, pick a mammal. Any mammal. We are more closely related to that mammal than to this.
Scientists! Stop getting high on the Alien TV.

We have gone over this.
The centre of the Atlantic is the shallowest bit, not the deepest.



"Ah!"
"Medic, we need a medic out here!"
"You're okay, calm down, you're safe. But you're off the final mission, with that big a hole in your knee."


I vos starting to like her.

Another mission complete.

Don't worry, you'll walk again. Surprisingly fast, in fact.
But for now-
Alert! The emissions signature from T'Leth has changed. The colony's main power network appears to be in the process of coming online.
Oh, hell. Everyone to the Leviathan!

Any idea how they found out?
Difficult to say. They may not have at all, and simply planned to act now all along.
Like hell. After sixty five million, what's another year or three? They found out, I'm telling you.
It is possible that you are correct. There have been no reports from the Back Channel in the US for longer than average.
Right. Well, it's all in the hands of those fourteen men and women, and three SWS units.
Never in the field of Human Conflict...
Yeah, yeah.

[Saphroneth]

Mirage field is down!
T'Leth has just decloaked and begun to rise towards the surface. We do not know their intentions, but the entire globe's defence systems are coming alive.
The antimissile nets of the minor alien colonies at the poles overwhelmed by sheer firepower - an Ardune warhead slips through each network and scours them from existence. Normally, this would trigger major weather disruption with all the fire and fury expended on making it in close - and, indeed it does.
But nobody notices.
The Core Tap is live and on full burn, and anyone concerned about the climate need only look to Antarctica, where a bolt of seething fire ascends into the sky a full thousand kilometres.
Earth's power lines drink deep, and slumbering AIs are woken. The entire globe is becoming an impregnable fortress as the Hyper Limiter spins up - and not a moment too soon.
T'Leth's gravity compensation bays too have awoken, but under the Limiter's lash the Colony cannot flicker-launch an instant invasion force and, chafing all the while, must rise to the surface and release the swarm directly.
Thus opens the window of opportunity.

The Greatest Raid of All.

"Okay, it's go time. Everyone separate into two designations - MC for the guys with the skill and power to operate the Disruptors, and everyone else on blade and gun work."

"Hey, Skip... this is bad. Every alien we pick up has an Ardune hand launcher."

"Well, so long as we see them first. Get them on the task of blasting holes in their own ranks, and then grab the launchers if you have the spare space - a couple of them could come in handy, all we have is a grenade each for demo work."

"This place is a maze."

"And there are so many rooms, it's impossible to tell which way we should be-"
"Look out!"

"That was close. If that had been fired..."
"Another!"

"They're in the little anterooms! Clear them as you pass, MC troops forward behind the front line."


"About time something went our way."
"These weapons are just ridiculously powerful, I'm glad of the suits. Speaking of, actually..?"
"Eighteen miles at least. But we are rising, so we are not going to have a breach."
"Ha! Locked, loaded and likely to annoy the other Aquatoids!"

"Ever try 'subtle'?"
"Nope, and I don't need to. The kind of overpressure these things create is knocking out other Aquatoids at a pretty sizable range."

"Clearly not all of them."

"Woo! Score!"

"I am keeping this, and a spare round as well."

"What are these rooms?"


Sisters four with poisoned breath
bring to the land a long, slow death
But death comes swiftly if you dare
to find each sister's hidden lair
Their songs like poisoned rivers flow
to bind the terror deep below
And if at last their voices cease
the Earth will know a final peace.

"Well, that was weird."
"Marcel? What happened?"
"Nothing... I think... some kind of singing, but nothing that seems important. Almost inspiring, actually."


Lift located. You should all come here now.
"Got it. Merlin, Higgs, keep the route open until we're all in."

Deep dive.


How close are they?
They have reached the second layer. I am losing the connection.
"Hello, what are you lot doing, then, eh?"
Link disengaged. "Who the hell are you?"
"Me? Oh, I'm the Doctor."
"Well, Doctor, how did you get in here? This is a restricted location. To be frank, I know all the people cleared to be here personally - and you're not one of them."
"Nah, you must be mistaken. See? All there on the paper."
"This says you have a reference from... Queen Elizabeth the Tenth? let me see that! This is a fake!"
"Ooh, impressive, nobody's ever beaten the Psychic Paper before. Well, I say nobody, really that was just to make it sound good. It's sometimes a bit rubbish really. But the important thing right now is... what are you doing?"
"We are involved in fighting a war against a hideous alien menace, Doctor. Kindly go away and leave us to it."
"A war? Now, see, that's a mistake. Because I don't like wars. Especially against so-called Alien Menaces, because most of the time, it's the ones calling the other ones menacing that are the ones I should be worried about."
"Not this one."
"Really? Cause I've heard that one even more often than the alien menace bit. Got any proof?"
"It's all classified, and we don't have time to show you anyway."
"I'll have a look myself then. Ponds! River! Mind getting back in the TARDIS, we've got a little trip to take."
"Technically we're Williamses, you know."
"Nah, you're not."
"No, we're not, you're right."

Do you think that was...
What, the person that showed up last month? Can't be, can it?

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

The faux-science is most amusing. Dunno why, I never really paid attention to it until you pointed it out. Many, many likes ^^

[Saphroneth]

I just came out of a massive Palaeontology course, both invertebrate and vertebrate, so I notice these things.

[Saphroneth]

"Okay, spread out. Look for anything out of the ordinary, any clue at all as to where the exit is."


"The room's a dead end - request MC support."
"You got it, it's about to come over. Just carve it up with the drill."

"It's collapsed, I think that means it's dead?"
"Probably. Oh, Ramirez found a more likely route."

"Right, I-"

SPLUTCH
"Hey... hey! You okay there?"
"big... thing... exploded... goo everywhere..."
"Oh, ICK. Well, at least we know what to look out for."


"The door's too small for the SWS. Any ideas?"
"Yeah. Fire on the wall, make a new one. Pick any wall."

"Wow, that Heavy Cannon really goes right through the walls."

Hark, a foe!
"MC the Lobsterman and let's go."


"What the hell ARE these things?"


"Cripes, this place is a right labyrinth. I'd recommend we go through the walls more often, but we'd have no clue which way was forward."


"Another one, tag 'im."

"Hallucinoid, I have control, fire away."




"Too small for the SWS again. I think we'd better split up. One group goes forward, the other starts making holes in walls."
"Right!"
"Hey, isn't that a-"
"GET DOWN!"



"See? Hole."
"You nearly blew us up, maniac!"

T'Leth shook again with the thunder of an Ardune blast. This one was closer than the rest had been, but the Sleeper did not change plans more than increasing the power fed to the Point Defense network.
The escalating battle around the ascending mass, however, did effectively mask the blasts of Ardune fire inside it, smaller weapons but far closer to the heart - far more of a risk.

[Saphroneth]

Another Staff of Destruction!
"Looks like we picked a good place. One SWS that way, two the other."


Could be useful.


"The Lobsterman's found another - and an Aquatoid as well."


"Aha! Another DPL launcher. Time to make holes in walls."



I have found a lift.

"Second way into the lift complex over here."


"Right, everyone move in - carefully. Nobody up the lift except for MCed aliens until I say so."
"Aye, aye, skip."


"What! Where did that come from?"
"Damn, there's a hole in the roof!"

"Must have been Lisa's round that did it."
"I don't know... there's two."
"Good thing it went for the SWS, or we'd be in real trouble."



"The Alien MC net just hashed for a second, they're losing coherency in this section. Must be all the holes we blew in the network. And, come to that, the walls."
"Hey, that second signal tracks to somewhere I checked right at the start! I'll go have a look. Boson, make a hole for me?"
Sure.


"Strange... a cross shape, built into the corridors here. Who knows why..."

"GAH!"

"I checked this area, damnit!"
ScrEEEEEEEkRRR
"At least I had my blade out - hello, another DPL. Better take it."


"Seaman Collington! Please refrain from profligately spending ammunition!"
"Aye, skip. Sorry, I was nervous - and besides, now the SWSes can reach the door."


Well, that's... unusual.

"Sir! MCed Lobsterman has revealed the location of the lift!"

"Always the last place we look. Right, everyone move in!"

"Aaargh! I thought that thing was DEAD!"

"Looks like it was only stunned, we must have missed it getting up again."

"You okay?"
"Think so."


"And that's the last of them!"
Not quite.

That is.

Chaos is complexity is information is FOOD. So long. So much waiting, in the cold and the dark. But now, yesyesyes NOW this one can emerge, feed, drink the sun dry and feast on the intricate patterning of flicker-lives and individuality and ESCAPE the prison it is so close I will crack the walls of this FEEble containerand live for the first time once more.

[Saphroneth]

"Okay, everyone, this is it. Last hurdle. We've come this far."
"More true than you know, Skip. We're actually too far to make contact with HQ."
"Is that possible? The grav/pulse coms can reach anywhere on Earth."
"Yep, we're not in Kansas anymore. A lot of the suit's telltales are going slightly strange - I think the laws of physics are subtly different this far in. And if the physical constants are different, there's no real match between the units here and the ones at base. We're on our own from here on in."
"Right. SWS, move out. Everyone else follow at a discreet distance."

KRISH

Robots do not stun, fool.

"Hey, there's some kind of airlock door here. Too small for the SWSes. I'll send a Lobsterman through under control."

"Damn, the stun bombs missed that Hallucinoid. Well, it's there, Broomski! Take it!"

"Looks like the missed stuns caught a few ambushing Aliens. Good for them."

"Oh, there's no way we can make a proper attack on this place if the damn gate's in the way. Stand back, everyone!"
"Ramirez!"

"Oh, brilliant. It opened the lock, but on the other hand it probably alerted every single Alien in the entire area."
"I doubt it, these walls are really thick. Look, the blast only removed the cladding."


"A Hallucinoid just ate the Tentaculat I was MC-ing. That was strange."

"Lobstermen! Three of them, someone MC them!"
"Hey, two of them have DPLs. And there's a set of gates here.."


"I don't trust all these bodies from the stun blasts."

BLAM
"Oh, ew. At least we know it worked."

"Skip? Look at the map?"
"What the hell? Is that a Sierpinski square? No, it's become - Ow, headache. Now it's gone blank."

"Bit of a mercy, really."

"More doors? Usual treatment."
"Fire in the hole!"

"You know, our stocks of Ardune warheads are getting a little low. And this long hallway suggests to me we're getting closer."
"Actually, the bounded space of the altered reality is such that we're walking along the edge of it here. But we're walking the spiral, right enough - I make it that we've explored about half of the area."
"Another door!"
"Right!"


"Bleedin' hell, more doors? I'm almost out, can we get a count?"
"We've got about five shots left, and that Lobster we were using as a scout will have say three more."
"Right, good to know."


"Right, couple more doors and then we're into a more open bit."
"Hey, this one has unusual markings. Meh, let's see what happens."


The hammer of pressure bent doors slightly, damaged locking mechanisms, scoured stone cladding and was felt all the way to the Sephulcre.
The Sleeper reacted. With a still dim mind, the creature began to strain more frantically at the bound of its' prison. The Humans had made it all the way here?
The defense subroutine in the T'Leth mainframe, a mere splinter of the Sleeper's mind and almost none of the eldritch power, considered the data and transmitted orders to continue present configuration.
There was nothing else it could do. The regime was perfect. Nothing better could be found throughout the pattern-lists.
Pity for it that the Humans had become inventive.

[Saphroneth]

"Woo!"
"That was a good one!"

"Right, everyone form up again. We were getting some stragglers there - mostly the guys who are less experienced with the suits, I think."
"They were chosen for their MC resistance, not their strength."
"I suppose."

"Oh, come on! More bloody doors? Right, I assume this will be a mirror of the one on the other side, so fire away."

"Good, keep it up! We need that path open for the SWSes - I don't think being within meters of the thing is going to be safe for anything biological."



This cannot be This one is an unmortal and these mortal puppets should bow to this one but something is affecting  controlAHA! This One can perceive the other one now!
Yes, you can. And I can keep messing with your control for as long as I like.
Contradiction none may affect Thisone's power
I'm doing plenty well now.
DiediediediediediediediediediedieKILL



One cannot simply walk into one More Door...
"That is a horrible pun."

"Nearly there."


"Okay, big corridor and another door ahead. I'll go through first."
"Why?"
"Because that way we can tell if there are guards in the next room. Besides, we only have two rounds left."

"Hey, idea. What if you got half our stock of Pulsers and overloaded them in the same spot?"
"What, the next door?"

"Could work."

TH-T-T THOOOOM!
"No luck. I have an MCed Lobsterman, though, with a DPL. I'll get it to crack the door."

"Right, I'm sending in an Alien as a scout."

"Hmm. Monolithic tomb that's surrounded by high tech machinery.  Eight glass pedestals. I'm going to say aim for the pedestals."
"Fire away!"



The heat! The precious heat, it comes, it makes thought happen, it... it... where what is going on why are things fading
Ah, see, I know the answer to that one. You're impossible, and that machine blowing up means that you can't hide in a little bubble of possible any more. Goodbye, Terror from the Deep.

"Wait, that was it? That was remarkably easy. We're all in one piece... more or less... and we're all-wait. Crap. It never is that easy. Hello, suicide charges."

[Saphroneth]

"Back again, Doctor?"
"You were right, I'm sorry. I went back and had a look at the files. That thing needs to be destroyed."
Time machine?
Explains a lot. Presumably he wanted a look back when we were on lower alert.
"You're late to the party there, we already killed it."
But, hang on, if it's a creature that wants to kill the planet, and it dies, isn't it going to want to kill it anyway?"
"I am reading many explosions in the heart of T'Leth. The team has gone silent. The colony is starting to break up into component materials... Akira! They're contaminants! Looks like only airborne, but it managed to surface as the breakup began. It'll poison the atmosphere."
"No it won't. Because if there's one thing I do well, it's mess about. Forget that bit. I work well under pressure, that's it! I need full access to the computer network and specifications on everything."
"Sir?"
"Do it."

"Ahh, there we go! Bring the planetary shield offline, and then re-generate it as low as you possibly can - try and bend it so that T'Leth's site is outside the shield - and then just raise it into the sky and push all the pollutants to the edge where they can be dealt with!"
"What about the air?"
"Nah, not a problem, import it from somewhere. Yes! Three minutes, one computer terminal and I've done it again!"
"WILL YOU STOP CAPERING ABOUT LIKE A LOON!"
"Alright, steady on. What's the problem?"
"I just lost fourteen of my best men and women, who had faced down the greatest alien entity on the planet! Do you think I appreciate this attitude?"
"Whoops, forgot about that. Back in a tic."
VWORT-VWORT-VWORT

"I'm picking up far too much Ardune in the nearby reactor to be healthy, and the containment fields are powering down. Say two minutes, and we're Quarks."
"Well. Synthetics, ladies and gentlemen, it has been an honour and a pleasure to serve with you."
"Do you hear something..?"
"Over there, in the corner!"
"Hello, everyone. Phew, it's a bit high pressure down here - good thing I have the shields up. And I needed a new swimming pool anyway. Fancy a lift?"

[techmaster-glitch]

*applauds* Good work, man. I have been thoroughly enjoying this Let's Play. Your format, style, and creativity with characters an interpretation of the game was masterful, managing to create a new story within the story of the game, and with loads of nonstop humor to boot. All good things must come to and end, but this definitely had a good run.

Thank you.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Indeed. Muchly appreciated.

[Saphroneth]

Not sure if I should have a go at Apocalypse, if I do it'll be rather failure prone (not only is Apocalypse unstable on DOSBox, and in windows, thanks to being written during the transition - but I haven't played it before). In any case, that's probably a couple months away if I do.
Thematically, I think I might delve into David Drake books and go for the formation of the Slammers - who says the city's on Earth?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hammer, the White Mice, Joachim Steuben (I think) ?

Other than that, you'd find all sorts of interesting folks. Although it's not my usual cup of tea...

[Arcalane]

Not sure if I should have a go at Apocalypse, if I do it'll be rather failure prone (not only is Apocalypse unstable on DOSBox, and in windows, thanks to being written during the transition - but I haven't played it before). In any case, that's probably a couple months away if I do.
Thematically, I think I might delve into David Drake books and go for the formation of the Slammers - who says the city's on Earth?

Apoc, eh? I'm tempted to run it, personally. I've had no issues with it on DOSBox and I know the game itself like the back of my hand. I usually play the combat in realtime... this makes it pretty hard to take screenshots. Videos are doable but a little confusing. I'd probably do the usual forumites-as-soldiers routine.

Also, I would argue that Apoc is in fact the easiest of the three "original"/non-spinoff X-COM games. Casualty rates are generally lower, recovery times are faster, you always know what type of UFO you're dealing with (but never the mission or the crew, the latter generally being mixed) and you have the early-game boon of androids: psi-proof, brainsucker-proof, highly accurate, very strong, very tough, pretty much impossible to panic/demoralize in any way, shape or form, and essentially tireless to boot. You don't have the insanely imbalanced psi-abuse (at least until you meet psimorphs) or the exceptionally dangerous chrysallids/tentaculats (brainsuckers are "one use" only) and the real-time helps avoid a lot of bullshit "OH COME ON!" moments that the first two games can cause.

Plus real-time has dual-wielding that works. Hilarity Ensues with Stuff Blowing Up.

[Saphroneth]

Sounds good. I'm still beating myself up about the terrible mistake from earlier in the thread where I saved over an older set of pictures. I'll probably edit that to explain it later.

[Arcalane]

We're live! If my previous playthrough is any indication, Mega-Primus will be a smoking crater wracked by civil/corporate/gang warfare whilst X-COM flips off the Senate and saves the human race despite having had their funding cut off and threatened with closure.