|
|
|
|
Author |
Topic: X-COM Monday Nights Campaign (Read 4486 times) |
|
vanya mia
Forum God
Last On: 02/09/12
View Profile
Message Player
United Kingdom
Posts: 2259
|
Picking through the items on the bed Catalina grabbed a pack of chocolate chip cookies with a triumphant grin, and blew a kiss up towards Vasily. "I should be up tomorrow, maybe the day after," she said, tearing the packet open. "But just come back and chat anytime." A biscuit was dipped in the coffee and then popped into her mouth. "Seriously, they're lovely but too busy here, I'm bored out of my mind." A few stray crumbs were licked delicately off her lips. "In fact, if one of you can fetch me a laptop, I may as well get on with reviewing those tapes and work logs. I can't see the detail on the phone. Hardly thrilling but it will help pass the time."
|
| « Last Edit: on: Jul 3, 2008, 11:30PM » |
 I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
TheBaldMan
Extreme Poster
Last On: 01/30/12
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 553
|
Buzz wondered how effective his quick work on the portable storage device had been. He had left enough data to get anyone who received it to get real excited. He had left a couple of rather dangerous viruses buried deep with in this data that a good hacker would find. Another buried deeper that was even more dangerous, but the real threat was buried in the base code that initialized the device itself. As soon a the device was use it would replicate itself and change its encoding and . . . well it would not be good.
He let out a deep sigh and winced from the recent wounds that were mending from the teams last outing. His luck lately the damn device would be incinerated. Not a transfer of data at all. Could be it was just an attempt to just get rid of the evidence . . . could be there was still someone on the inside.
// Hey there, Dira!
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Jenniza
Forum God
Last On: 07/18/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 2304
|
Jane asked one of the med techs if they could arrange for Catalina to get a laptop. They had one available and set it up for Catalina.
Jane asked, "How are they treating you, Catalina?"
Jane has one of the apples.
|
| « Last Edit: on: Jul 4, 2008, 5:09AM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
vanya mia
Forum God
Last On: 02/09/12
View Profile
Message Player
United Kingdom
Posts: 2259
|
"Wonderfully, especially that nurse there," Catalina grinned and indicated the male nurse, "Of course it could be better, he could bend over a lot more often, but I have to recognise that he has a lot of duties for which he must remain upright and not be too demanding."
"Saw the B team come in after a run." Dipping another biscuit she glanced up at Vasily with a mischievous look. "You might be right about passing on the lasers, it seems they couldn't even handle a bear they met." Catalina winked at Jane. "You were right. The starlet's experience in looking good on whatever that television programme was didn't work for her in a combat situation."
"So! Any news on our infiltrator? That data stick didn't get itself into the laundry basket, as the last I checked they couldn't walk." She glanced at Jane. "If you can push them on letting me have a laptop I hope to get some clues there. Plus what's this about a new team member?"
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lazybones
Forum God
Last On: 12/31/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 4695
|
Okay, I'll implement the priorities noted in Jane's post on page 23; just be aware that you won't get a laser rifle right off with only 5 engineers working on it.
I will post an update tomorrow with the results of your character skill rolls. I have:
Vasily: Demolitions +9 (base building)
Jane: Craft Mechanical +11 (med lab construction)
Catalina: Search +11 (spy investigation)
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Jenniza
Forum God
Last On: 07/18/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 2304
|
ooc is Buzz kicking in his computer skills to the spy investigations from a different angle? not sure how to read his posts, if they implied anything
|
| « Last Edit: on: Jul 4, 2008, 6:52PM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lazybones
Forum God
Last On: 12/31/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 4695
|
on Jul 4, 2008, 6:50 PM, Jenniza wrote:| ooc is Buzz kicking in his computer skills to the spy investigations from a different angle? not sure how to read his posts, if they implied anything |
|
Unless I get a specific post with a skill cited, then I don't include a given character in that week's base work.
As promised, here's the results of this week's efforts:
* * * * *
It is a busy week at X-COM HQX.
With Alpha Team drawing so many deadly missions, Beta Team gets assigned to most of the "milk runs", such as investigations and site cleanup. But one of those milk runs turns deadly when a Sectoid infiltration team turns up on one of their missions this week. In addition to some alien bodies and weapons wrapped in plastic that Beta brings back, they bring back one member of their team on a stretcher, a young Thai named Sonthi. Even through the translucent wrapping of the body bag it's easy to see the fist-sized hole that's been blasted through his chest. The rest of the team undergoes a lengthy debriefing and later one-on-one meetings with Counselor Beauvois.
Vasily applies his skill to the work of expanding the West Wing of X-COM. His creative and expert use of demolitions shaves precious days off the time it takes to get the new West Wing open and ready for the installation crews. (ooc: Vasily Kasprjak Demolitions roll: 12+9 = 21, Moderate Success, +2 to base construction).
Jane helps the engineers adding the fixtures and other infrastructure to what will become the new Medical Lab. Motivated perhaps by the wounds that Alpha and Beta Teams bring back from their missions, along with the stories Jane tells of their combat missions, the engineering team pulls double shifts, and the new lab is ready ahead of schedule. It will take some time to transfer over all of the material and equipment from the current medical bay in Research Lab 1, but the engineering team is not needed to carry out that work. (ooc: Jane Swift Craft Mechanical roll: 9 + 11 = 20, Moderate Success, +2 to engineering work this week).
Research Lab 1 sends a report on the autopsy on the new alien race, the Floater. The Floater is a created species, genetically engineered to a degree far beyond human science, and then further altered by the integration of machinery into its body. The largest such device replaces the creature's legs, and grants it the levitation ability that gives it its name.
Doctor White submits a report the next day, adding information on the Floater blood work. "Our study of the alien biochemistry continues," he says in the report. "We are working on a biological or chemical agent that will target the alien physiology. The work on the Floater indicates some potential methods that we can pursue. Already we've discovered a substance that acts as an irritant on alien respiratory and sensory systems. I've added this substance to the tear gas grenades stocked by Musa. The grenades should stun Snakemen and Floaters, but note that Sectoids wear breathing masks, and will not be affected.
(ooc: Tear Gas grenades have had a slight bump in cost to reflect the cost of manufacturing and injecting the new chemical irritant. Their effect on normal humans is unchanged.)
Doctor Sandesh sends a message to the Alpha Team members, asking them to meet him in Research Lab 2. After what happened on their last visit, most of the Alphas bring their guns with them. But the lab is quiet save for the Egyptian scientist and two technicians, who are closing the last access panel onto the Heavy Weapons Platform as the last members of Alpha enter.
The HWP looks similar to the one that you destroyed before. An opening a few inches across in the front of the device stares at you menacingly.
"The prototype is ready for field testing," Sandesh explains. "The device has a fully independent AI program, and will respond to voice commands. It has been pre-programmed with all of your voice patterns; just approach it and give it orders to follow you, and it will remain linked to you until ordered to stop."
Sandesh hesitates for a moment before walking over to the machine, shooing away one of the techs. "I read all of your action reports, and I believe that the default gun that we were using for testing would have been... of limited utility against these new aliens. Therefore I have installed a rocket launcher in this model. The platform carries twelve sixty milimeter rockets with high explosive heads. They have considerable range and should prove quite effective against most alien species that you have faced thus far. However, be cautious, as the HWP's AI may target aliens without concern for allies that may be within the blast radius. Remember that the HWP may be manually ordered to remain back should this become an issue. The HWP is not equipped for close combat, so I do not recommend allowing it to engage in melee actions with aliens, especially if it has rockets remaining in the launcher."
Sandesh finishes by describing a few of the more mundane systems of the HWP. He says that he is already working on plans for an improved model, capable of carrying a portable laser cannon along with heavier armor.
(ooc: The HWP functions as a henchman and responds to the usual henchman commands. Additional HWPs can be manufactured in the workshops. As soon as research into the Laser Cannon is completed, Laser Tanks can be constructed as well.)
With a few raised eyebrows, Alpha Team takes possession of its new "recruit".
The production of the HWP is not the last event of importance. While the others work on base improvements, practice tactics, or catch up on their reading, Catalina is deeply immersed in a complicated research project. She takes the data that Buzz and Commander Hallorand collected about the stolen files, and begins painstakingly comparing them to various base personnel and computer access logs. The information is not as complete as it might have been, and the British agent spends many hours in frustration trying to tie the scattered and vague links together.
Finally, as midnight approaches one night, she sits up suddenly, staring at the data on her screen. It looks like a log of computer access in the workshops and research labs, juxtaposed against a list of project assignments. (ooc: Catalina De Farrago Search roll: 18 + 11 = 29, Complete Success)
"I have to be sure," she says to herself. She goes to her bunk, and recovers another tube of the UV-sensitive dust.
HQX never really sleeps, but the dead-of-night shift is noticeably quieter than the others. In the morning, the base wakes with the sounds of the night shift meeting the first day shift in the mess hall in the South Wing. Catalina walks through the labs and the workshops, armed with a portable UV generator, and her Glock riding on her hip.
She finally catches up to her quarry in a dead-end service corridor. She draws her gun, wary of a trap, but her target is alone. The UV light floods the tunnel, and shows up blue on his fingertips. He looks up, and she sees a look of resignation on his face. "I wondered how long it would take you to find me," he says. "There is no need for that," he says, indicating the gun. "I will go with you, quietly."
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Jenniza
Forum God
Last On: 07/18/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 2304
|
ooc sorry, i don't have time to film this, i'm busy with other projects... you'll just have to use your imaginations:
Scene: Wedding, December 11, 2006
Rabbi: Do you, Donna Shuster, take Samuel Coleman to be your lawfully wedded husband... to love, honor and cherish?
Donna: I do.
Scene: Outside reception hall
Limo pulls up and Donna, Samuel get out and greeted by Mark, Rebecca and Samantha.
Another car rips around corner and guns down Samuel.
Samuel dies in Donna's arms.
Beginning credits
Lionhead Studios Presents
A Lightfingers' Studio Productions
X-COM - WITSEC
Scene: Arrest scene
First at bar, then boss at office.
Donna/Jane is in on the bust.
They are thrown in jail.
Scene: Suburban city street
WITSEC officer Ross: This is your new house and your new identities. You can stay in contact with your sister with this secure email box at the CIA. She's been given a new identity too. We'll go through the entire briefing shortly.
Scene: The year 2010...
Overlays, while scenes occur...
X-COM is formed to counter the growing threat of an alien invasion from outer space. X-COM is an international agency of the elite in all fields; it stands for Extraterrestrial Combat Unit.
Donna Shuster, now Jane Swift has been transferred from the CIA to X-COM and assigned to Alpha Team.
Scene/Overlay: LATER...
Jane put in for yet another day off to see her niece, now that the smuggling ring was broken up. She hoped this time it would be approved.
No sooner than Jane put in for a request for a day off... Jane realized a horifying thought: the smuggling files might contain personnel files... her files... particularly her brother and his family.
She raced for Chief Hallorand's office looking for him,
JANE: Chief, if any of those smuggled files contained my personnel files, particularly my brother and his family, they are in grave danger. They need to be moved to a safe house immediately. They are in the Federal Witness Relocation Program. They'll know what to do.
The Chief remembered her folder and her history.
CHIEF: Understood.
Hallorand takes Jane's concern seriously.
CHIEF: I will submit a request through Agent Drake for protection of all of X-COM's American agents and employees.
A DAY LATER
WITSEC OFFICER ROSS: *Urgently* We have to go NOW!!! *Not letting the Shuster family into the house and ushering them into the SUV under guard*
Under protests, the Shuster family pulls away from their house, while other agents sweep in... just then there's a huge explosion from the house that nearly rocks the SUV off its base; but Ross recovers and keeps driving at top speed.
End Credits
--------------
sorry, it's extremely rough and normally i'd have made it better... i got frustrated and gave up on making it a film after i was backed up on other projects, and real life stuff.
hugs
Stephanie
hope it didn't suck too bad 
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
vanya mia
Forum God
Last On: 02/09/12
View Profile
Message Player
United Kingdom
Posts: 2259
|
((OOC - Yay! Can you do all my in game rolling for me please LB? I'm sure I'd have rolled a one.  ))
"Dr. Okwelume, I presume?"
The resignation on the scientists face, and what appeared to be relief in his expression, were not lost on Catalina. Will he talk now, in a moment of weakness, before realisation of his situation and self preservation make him more wary? It was not the best of locations. Her eyes didn't leave Dr Okwelume, but her ears and every other nerve ending tuned to her surroundings and she made sure her own back was towards the nearest wall.
Carpe Diem. "So Steven, may I call you Steven?" Catalina motioned with the barrel of the gun purely to emphasise it's existance, and the fact that it was pointing right at him. "Care to tell me exactly what this is all about? Who are you working on behalf of and why you feel the need to do so? I think you'll find I'm a very good listener."
|
| « Last Edit: on: Jul 6, 2008, 10:33AM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lazybones
Forum God
Last On: 12/31/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 4695
|
Doctor Okwelume sighs, and leans back against the wall at his back. As he shifts, Catalina catches sight of something concealed in his lap... an oblong object that might be a small laptop computer.
"Have you ever read the novels of Chinua Achebe?" He does not wait for a response, and as he continues, he barely seems to notice that Catalina is there. "His stories describe a people that was complex, noble... well, noble insofar as any human society can be considered such. We had a culture, my Igbo, a language, a belief system, and all of the loves and hates and goods and bads that come with them."
"We were not unique to the process of colonialism. I won't presume to lecture you about the evils of British imperialism; I'm sure you got plenty of that in your primary school. In any case, I am one of those who believes that the history of colonization ended up consuming the colonizers as much as the colonized. Like us, the British were products of their own culture and beliefs. There were good men, bad men, and a vast mass that fell somewhere in between."
"Africa is one of the richest continents in terms of mineral wealth--did you know that? They say that there is enough uranium and oil under Africa to keep the Industrial Age going for another four, five decades. Though perhaps it is better for the West that it learn now to stop its dependence on..."
He looks up, and suddenly smiles. "I am sorry, I am babbling. Ada always said I tended to run my mouth off. Everything that you need is here," he says, glancing down to the laptop. "All my contacts, and the different nations to whom I sold the information. The Chinese, the Indians, the Israelis. My price was steep; nothing less than the introduction of the twenty-first century to the Niger River delta. Sixteen hospitals, two modern oil refineries, a solar power plant, two water treatment facilities, two hundred schools..."
"I used to rationalize that I was doing what I did for the good of all humanity. Knowledge should not be concealed, especially in the face of this threat. Are we not all united against this new threat? Could not an alien invasion do what all of the empires and religions failed to do, bring humanity together? I am not so naive, now. I have learned a great deal."
He meets Catalina's eyes squarely. "Do not trust the Chinese. Not the people; their leaders. They have been treating secretly with the aliens."
"Please extend my apologies to your superiors. I must say, my time at X-COM has been among the most rewarding in my life. The sheer... wonder of the science that is done here. That is my one regret, that I will not see the transformation of human knowledge come to its fruition."
He sighs, and takes out a pistol from under the laptop. He lifts it and places the mouth of the gun under his chin.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lazybones
Forum God
Last On: 12/31/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 4695
|
There is a ear-shattering roar as the handgun discharges in the close space of the service passage. A hiss of hot metal zings past Catalina's ear as the bullet ricochets off the wall, then the ceiling, before missing her by a scant few inches.
Okwelume's gun goes flying down the corridor. The doctor himself sags to the floor, sobbing. Catalina quickly verifies that he isn't carrying another weapon.
(ooc Opposed DEX roll: 14 +3 for Catalina, 3 +0 for Dr. Okwelume. I figured on a tie he'd shoot you instead by mistake.)
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
chiz
Forum God
Last On: 04/27/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 828
|
Earlier, during the group eating scene:
Jim turned down the coffee. "I'm really more of a milk and cookies guy, when I'm in the mood for indulging - so fork over one of those cookies. You guys already know my breakfast carrot juice and bran flakes routine. [ Jim has a glass of carrot juice, a bowl of bran flakes and some fruit every day for breakfast.] Started that way back when we did autopsies in med school, the corpses always had clogged arteries when we opened 'em up. Fastest way to the grave short of a snakemen energy weapon - just don't watch what you eat."
Jim paused for a minute. "So, on the research, I can go along with most of the recommendations - except that I really want to get my hands on one of those laser pistols. We all outta have one. I've still been working on the medkits and we've got those down now - ya'll each outta have one for emergencies, but remember, if I'm up, let me do it - applying it is still a bit of an art, and non-docs won't usually get as much out of it as a trained professional like me." Jim grins to let the group know he's kidding with the pompousness - a little, at least.
ooc: Good luck Boomer; welcome Dira! I'm back from vacation and all set to play tonight.
|
| « Last Edit: on: Jul 8, 2008, 1:39AM » |
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
Lazybones
Forum God
Last On: 12/31/11
View Profile
Message Player
United States
Posts: 4695
|
+600xp for Catalina, James, Jane, and Vasily. Since dira's character hasn't been introduced yet I won't hold him against the 100% bonus requirement.
Also, +100xp for Catalina, Jane, and Vasily for good use of class skills this week.
|
|
I.P. Logged |
|
|
|
|
|
|
)) 
)) 
