Part 28: Master Chief Booya

Update 25: Master Chief Booya

"April 15th, Commander Vault recording.

The only new development to report on is that after many days of deliberating we have decided to officially reject the Reticulans peace offer. News of the offer spread across the earth and even caused riots in some places. Some wanted peace and an end to the hardships. I think more people wanted revenge for all the people that have died.

Our control over the Churchill region has been diminished due to rioting, and the base commander tells me he estimates their control to be at about 50% normal while he deals with the situation. Thankfully Churchill isn't near the front lines and I am not to worried about it.

The other news regarding our base situation is good. In the last week the squads have been highly active, and while none of the missions are anything new to remark upon, they captured Reticulan bases at Berlin and Brno, and secured a military instillation at Kiev. These advances have taken away enemy resources and allowed us to push farther into the Biomass. Brno and Kiev have been refitted for Biomass repulsors, while Paris who was formally Anti-Biomass has be converted into an engineering base.

The research department here is trying to cook up something big, but after a weeks worth of efforts have given me nothing. They say they are trying to figure out the big picture of the Reticulan fight against earth. Something about where their main base is since it wouldn't be on earth if their plans succeed. While the eggheads figure that one out we have managed to produce a handful of enhanced heavy armor. Offering the same great protection from conventional weapons as well as superior protection from warp, plasma, and laser damage.

Since the last week has been rather mundane and the CoE central data bank will contain the full mission logs I have decided not to include them in my own entry. Instead I spent the week looking over some of the squads mission reports and journal entries. While most of them are pretty usual, dealing with combat stress, the loss of a team mate, slowly getting over preconceived sexist ideals, or being weirded out by robotic Canadians, Booyas offers a very interesting insight into how he preseves his command and mission assignments."

**** VIDEO LOG ACCESS GRANTED: SUIT RECORDING SYSTEMS NOMINAL. C.O.D.V. SCANNERS ONLINE; SPLINES RETICULATED.

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After wiping the guts off my visor, and my hand on Private Showers' chestpiece, we shacked up inside the UFO. Watching Val hump that big collapsible system was amusing for awhile, but I had ass to kick, names to take, and bubblegum to chew. My .50 BMG chambered gatling gun, straight from Haggis' 'private' stash, was still barrel-smoking as my boots fell heavily on the floor.


I found a Reticulan humping around something big. It looked like a collapsible device, much like the things that we'd recently developed.


Too bad his dumb ass was too slow to set it up. Now his internal organs decorate the room nicely; that Warp Rifle sure can do some lovely damage.


This xeno right here. I tell you what, he was so absorbed in dissecting that fella that it reminded me of my uncle Bubba when I was young. That guy had an old '84 Monte Carlo, nice built up small block with a 650 carbeurator. Thing ran like a hellbeast with its ass on fire, pretty much ate the Honda fags 'round his house for breakfast. When Bub got working on his car, NOTHING could get him out of his trance. One time we got ourselves a red-hot poker and snuck up behind him, because his pants were riding a little low, and as we got closer to h-


Ah, shit.


It was only a matter of time before the Warp Rifle seemed to be absolutely inadequate against the xeno who failed to be surprised, so I decided to get something just a bit bigger from the little guy I wasted earlier.


The seat was damn uncomfortable, but I certainly couldn't question the performance of the portable emplacement.


Reticulan shields make a really amusing pinging noise when you hit them with your own weaponry. Sorta like smacking a cow on the head with a steel washtub. And a lot more satisfying.


*** PLAYBACK INTERRUPTED; LOG FILE PARTIALLY MISSING. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS MESSAGE IN ERROR, CONTACT A SYSOP WITH THE SPECIFIC LOG FILE. SYSOPS, BE SURE TO LOG YOUR NOTES ACCORDINGLY. ***

After a lot of bad noise back home, and a lot of negotiation, it came forth that apparently I was a big enough badass that the brass decided to send me in solo to kick the shit out of more aliens. Unfortunately, the laser gatling gun (Ain't technology wonderful?) that the tech handed me was devoid of most its power; after screaming at him over the comm channel for five minutes, he informed me that he was sorry, because there were two on the bench that he was using to help me suit up, and he must have grabbed the empty one by mistake.

"It's alright, man, just don't make me break no whiskey bottles over your head for something dumb like that in the future, ya hear?"


The gatling laser wasn't completely empty, though, and its last life was spit into some squish with a rocket launcher. I tossed the gatling laser into what looked like a pile of intestines by accident, so hopefully the recovery team can brush it off and put it back into service.

In the meantime, though, I was left with an unhealthy need to blow shit up, and dadgum if I didn't now have the means to do it. Damn Reticulan weapons can be a little unsettling the first time they wrap themselves around your fingers and stick nerve-probes up against that crook between your fingers.


Look, it's not my fault I took a hit. He made me fire first with his shot. And now look where his ass is.


On fire.


But so was mine. Nothing that a little stop, drop, and roll didn't fix, though.


You know, for having superior intelligence or what the fuck ever, Reticulans sure are good at walking into my missles.


Not that I'm arguing, 'course. Oblivious squishes are my favorite kinds of squishes.


*** AUDIO FILE CLIP ATTACHED ***

Booyah: Phoenix Support and Logistics, this is McLean.

Support Tech: Go ahead, Booyah.

Booyah: I've encountered what looks like the worst goddamn Merry-Go-Round on the planet. Can you confirm its fun- hang on.

Support Tech: Holding. Communications channel will remai-



Booyah: <Garbled static, unearthly screams.>

Support Tech: Come back, Booyah.




Booyah: <Heavy static and more garbled screams>

Support Tech: Booyah, this is Phoenix Mission Control, please come back.

Booyah: <Reticulan weaponry noises. Static Hissing.>



Support Tech: Booyah?

Booyah: <Silence, gentle hiss of static.>



Support Tech: McLean, this is the nest, come back please. Don't make us come in there.

Booyah: Sorry 'bout that, got a little personal with a squish. He pointed his gun at me, so I jabbed him in the eyes with my fingers. Turns out that it hurts them a lot, and m'sure that if he understood the Three Stooges sound effect, he'd be laughing right now, instead of bleedin' all over my damn boots.

Support Tech: Christ, are you alright?

Booyah: Doin' great. Though you might wanna bring me some bleach and protein-cleaners for my armor, it's a little more drenched in guts than usual.

*** AUDIO FILE ENDS ***

*** SYSTEM TEMPORAL IRREGULARITY. PLEASE FORWARD THIS LOG TO MAINTENANCE; ERROR COUNT=2 ***

It's times like these, just after launching a sortie, that I reflect on the good things in life. What I hold in my hands is a perfect example: A Gatling gun chambered in .50 BMG.


Valhallan got a new toy, too. His christmas present was also chambered in .50 Caliber, but just a bit more awkward to lug around:


Now see here's an ability I didn't know that transgenants had: The power to evaporate into a fine cloud of green mist.


Sorry, I couldn't hear quite what you fine gents were saying. Something 'bout please don't kill me with your huge chaingun, Mr. Booya?


I'm not sure what the hell I just killed, but it didn't have a damn chance. Crazy tiny-ass things swooping in front of a stream of bullets.


*** AUDIO CLIP ***

Booyah: Hey Val, how's that emplacement working out for you?


Valhallan: You would not believe the fuckin' smile on my face.

Booyah: Good boy!

*** END OF CLIP***

Y'see, I have a problem.


When I open doors, and there just so happen to be aliens waiting to attack me, I get this itch in my right index finger. It's an instinctive thing, and the doctors back at the base even tested my stimulus response time to confirm this.

They called my condition, "Itching to shoot xenos in the face."


Because I'm such a sporting guy, I gave the last few transgenants blessings in the form of 7.62x39. I wanted to save some of the chaingun's fare for later, so I picked up the Kalashnikov-type rifle that a Danglefly dropped, and blew their fuckin' brains out.


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DONE!
NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS RECORDING.

*** THANK YOU FOR ACCESSING EARTHNET ARCHIVES. DON'T FORGET TO LOG OUT! ***

"Well, there are obviously a few errors in Booyas recollection of these events. Obviously I would never have sent him to assault an alien base alone. And even when he does remember the rest of the team being there he seems to think he's still doing all of the work, with the rare exception of Vallhallan using the deployable weapon platforms.

Either Booya is just remembering events in a light where he takes the spotlight, or we need to be a little more worried about our soldiers mental health. However for the time being and in light of his recent accomplishments against the Reticulans I remain unworried and positive he will continue to be an effective leader in this fight. And for his valor and leadership in the three alien base assaults he has earned the promotion to Master Sergent.

Squad situations aside, there is some bad news during the last week. We had thought the Biomass would be contained on the south pole and would not spread any further.



Well, we were wrong. I'm hopeful Major Hunter can expand south into Brazil or the former territories of southern Chile or Argentina and set up Anti-Biomass basses there. If the Biomass continues north we may be surrounded by the Biomass rather then us surrounding it. At worst we should be able to hold it off around Panama where a single Biomass repulsor should prevent it for gaining any more ground.

And even despite our pushes into Europe, the Biomass continues to expand where ever we are not able to stop it. The entire middle east and most of Africa are now gone. And of note is that while some of our replusors are effectively reclaiming hundreds or thousands of square miles from the Biomass our base in Komosomolk Russia is only holding the Biomass at bay a few hundred miles away from the base. Either we need more powerful repulsors or we need a way of seeking out the nodes that grow the Biomass and destroying them.


We remain in a stronger position then ever before against our alien foes and I am confident we can turn this fight around, reclaim the whole of the earths surface and take the fight to where ever these bastards are coming from."




--Solders Logs--


Posted by Cooked Auto

Excerpt from Professor Jonathan Sawyers lecture "The threat from the Mass" held 6 months after Victory Day was declared.

"...as it became obvious very quickly, the so called Biomass was a biological machine capable of devouring entire countries in just a few weeks. What wasn't as obvious in the beginning was the psychological warfare and indoctrination it conducted at the same time as it continued to devour everything it came across.
Records and log entires taken from a specific CoE base in Central Asia after it being liberated showed the width of this warfare on it's inhabitants. However this was not focused on one area in particular but happened across the globe. Sometimes in many different ways. (See attached file labeled "Hastings Incident")
Log entry #311-A is one of the earliest indications of the psychological manipulations that the Biomass preformed on people in settlements nearby. These manipulations started small and almost unnoticed by the general population.
However as time progressed and the biomass continued to creep even further the effects became to apparent for people to miss.
Email entry #408 is evidence to how far up the influence spread, as far up as the CoE military stationed at the base itself.
Entry #605 is another indication on how far up the infection had spread and how the infected tried to spread it further.
It is also by this time the infected start using the term "The Many" to describe themselves. Why they used this term is unknown but researchers has hinted that this was due to the hive mind mentality of the Biomass. But no conclusive evidence has yet been found to support this.
As the Biomass influence grew the few uninfected that were somehow resistant to this started to struggle against the infected. As the Biomass continued to creep further towards the base, conflicts started to brew on afflicted areas. Almost always leading to outright violence. (See Entry #312)

Sadly the resistance ended up being defeated by the sheer bulk of Biomass creatures and it is unknown if anyone managed to escape or not from the affected bases or all died fighting.
One of the more memorable entires of the valiant defense within the infected areas is #412. Sadly the body of the female commander was never found but she was posthumously awarded the CoE Medal of Honor for her bravery in face of danger.

As for the fate of the infected not much is known. Many must have wandered off into the expansive biomass to join others. But others evolved into something far less human (See entires #313 and #709.)

Furthermore..."