Part 9: Reticulan Pirates Or Pirate Reticulans?

Chapter 7 - Reticulan Pirates Or Pirate Reticulans?

"Commanders Report; April Seventeenth, 1000 hours.

At long last the Laputa is back to full working order. No more power problems, no more mechanical failures, and whatever killed the internal communication system has been fixed too. With sensors back up we were able to get a fix on the alien ship again and put its arrival at 8 days away. Even while everything was haywire up here for a while our production plants on the surface continued with out interruption and our armory is looking the better for it.

Normal activities have resumed and everything looks smooth for the next 8 days. Every squad was made ready for action and we deployed them across the globe where help and aid was needed, and previously unavailable for some time. It may have hurt our relations somewhat but I think the factions on the ground understood our situation. Diplomatic issues are becoming less of a worry though. As regions are stabilizing there becomes less conflict and less worry about any threat to immediate survival.

Continuing the tradition of sending Phoenix Company to the front lines and expanding our borders, Hero is getting a team together for an odd mission. I'm not really even sure how this one happened, but Forest was running supply ships across the Atlantic and one of them was hijacked by Reticulans... I swear this has to be a joke. Where did they come from? We haven't picked up any UFO activity for months, we blew up their base and their hangers so how the hell did they pirate a ship in the Atlantic?

It doesn't matter. Hero is set to make a drop sphere landing on the bow of the ship and clear it of all aliens present and take the thing back to port in New York. Forest is promising us space on the coast which we can use as a foot hold into North America if we get this done."







Fastball: Holy shit we made it!
Quicksilver: I'm glad Alan wasn't kidding about being good enough to put us right on the bow of the ship.
Ian: Hey... does anyone find it strange that we just shot ourselves out of orbit in an alien alloyed sphere onto the deck of a freighter at sonic speeds and yet didn't massively damage the ship when we landed?
Hero: No. Val, go take a look and see if you can see anything.
Vallhallan: Moving!



Vallhallan: Hmm.. Nope. Can't see any hostile movement from here.
Hero: Damn. Okay, get down here and let's go check out the other end of the ship.



Hero: Okay rookies, stay close by and what the hell is that Fastball? You letting one of them use your rifle?
Fastball: Nah, I checked in with Haggis and we have enough spare batteries for a while so I grabbed a laser pistol. Figured we might need something besides lead flying around.
Quicksilver: Alien!



Fastball: Damn it, I cant shoot him from back here.



Fastball: I'm going to get a better shot, leave some for me!





Fastball: Oh you jerks. He's dead now.
Hero: Fine, you want something to shoot? Then take point, you'll get the first shot.
Fastball: Deal.



Fastball: Whoa found something already!



Fastball: Damn. Too far away to get a good shot.
Ian: Well fall back or let us get a shot then.



Fastball: Holy shit its shooting black at me! Fall back!



Hero: Fastball, I hope you find a real gun soon.
Fastball: Yeah yeah...
Quicksilver: You really think it's going to be stupid enough to walk around the corner into us like this?



Fastball: Yes.
Quicksilver: Never mind.



Hero: Boys done over there? Let's keep moving.



Hero: Hostile! Waste him guys.



Vallhallan: You got one behind the left cargo container too.



Ian: I got one!
Vallhallan: Or he tripped on something.
Ian: Shut up, he's dead.



Fastball: Other one is mine!
Ian: Hey come on, you missed.
Fastball: Did not!
Ian: You are shooting a big laser beam, we can see exactly where you shoot.
Fastball: Dick.



Vallhallan: Christ there are more.
Hero: You couldn't see any of these from that antenna thing?
Vallhallan: Hey, I'm not Golden. He scouts, I blow shit up. Thats how it works.





Fastball: Okay suck it. That one was mine. You could all see the yellow laser hit his fucking face.
Quicksilver: Yeah, we're all proud of you Curveball.
Fastball: Hey!



Ian: Theres another one!



Quicksilver: That one didn't stand a chance.
Hero: Yeah, they're a lot less bright this time around. Didn't even try to stay in cover.



Hero: Val, take Softball and Silver and go right. Ian you're with me. Sweep around the side of the ship then head into the cabin.
Fastball: Hey!
Vallhallan: Shut up and move it Slowball.



Ian: Look out!
Hero: Damn, another one.



Ian: Is it dead?
Hero: Think so, it's not moving. Let's take a look.



Hero: Huh. Look at that. It died upright.
Ian: Just kinda hunched over kneeling. Guess rigor mortis sets in fast with these guys.
Hero: Ha! Let's keep looking around.



Hero: Well, no more aliens so far. What do you have over there?
Ian: Not positive, never worked with large sea craft before. But I'd say the ship looks perfectly fine. I can probably figure out the controls enough to at least steer it into the port.
Hero: Sounds good. Hey Val, you find anything?



Vallhallan: Not a thing.
Fastball: We're up here catching a breeze and enjoying the view.
Hero: Alright, keep alert for a bit, but I think we're clear here.
Vallhallan: Roger that.
Quicksilver: Hey... What happened to the crew?







"Commanders Report; 1200 hours.

Hero mission went well. She's reporting no serious injuries and has taken control of the ship. Ian has engaged the autopilot and should be able to get it to the harbor where he will cut power and let the locals tow the ship into port. Another nice successful mission after a break. I'm planning on checking in on the soldiers later to see how everyone is doing after the spare time spent relaxing and recovering. With so may hours past I am sure Booya kept everyone training and I'm eager to see what results this has brought. I heard from Haggis Ackbar has been in the armory practicing with the new sniper rifles.



Here is the geosphere showing the territory we now have access to in North America. It's right up against the cults territory so the next week may see some very heavy fighting. Also this new foot hold in North America put me in a tricky situation. We now have minor holds along Africa, South America, and now North America. We need to pick one area to concentrate on and focus our efforts there. That way we are not scrambling all over the place to put down minor problems as they pop up and maximizing the resources gathered from our territory. It doesn't do us much good to take control of somewhere if we can't hook it up to the main supply lines.

For these main reasons I'm leaning toward a campaign in North America. Lots of land with lots of resources with no major geographical obstacles in our way makes an appealing prospect for expansion. While almost everything is held by the cult right now that doesn't come as too big a down side to me. The more land we take from the cult the better."