The X-scrolls., Eat plasma, Daedra. Options

[jack cloudy]

Here's the new one. It isn't TES yet, and I actually don't have a clue what I really want to do. All I wanted was to get an X-COM soldier into Tamriel. No better way to do that than with the biggest Elerium explosion in history. Hey, if it can create anti-gravity fields, hot plasma and big explosions it might just be able to make a rip into another dimension.



Prologue: Cydonia or bust.

Yet another bolt of superheated plasma flew past him at almost the speed of light. He came out of hiding and ran over to another row of chairs, firing of a few shots over his shoulder as he went. He skidded to a halt and dove behind the chairs. How long had this been going on? Twenty seconds?

,,Way too long for a single firefight. We’ve got to finish this one before the bugs creep up our back.” He thought when the chair in front of him was vaporized.
,,Damn! Terence, cut the playing and just vapo the whole room with a Blaster Bomb!” He shouted as he got up and fired at the two robed figures on the other end of the room. At least he managed to sent one of the aliens on a single trip to the afterlife. He didn’t got the chance to target the next one because the now empty clip popped out of his weapon.

He dropped the Heavy Plasma and aimed his much smaller but still powerful pistol.
,,Terence, what’s taking you so long?!” A quick glance showed him that Terence would never finish his job. His head had been cleanly blown away by a Plasma blast.
,,Damn, I’m the only one left.”He managed to kill the remaining alien more with luck than skill and lowered his pistol.

The room had been pretty much wasted from the plasma flying back and forth but the big thing that took up the far end of the room still seemed to be in good shape. He walked over to what was left of Terence and picked up the huge tube-like launcher.
,,If that big thing over there controls every bug in the system, I might as well make sure I take it out by using the biggest explosive ever seen.” He muttered to himself as he slipped one of the silvery football-shaped (American-style) Blaster Bombs into the launcher and began to type in the waypoints.

,,Why do you want to do that? It will only result in your death as well as mine. Don’t shoot me. There are better options.” The voice in his head was very convincing and he noticed that his hand moved on its own and cancelled all the waypoints.
,,No, the Avenger was blown up just after landing. I’ll be stuck on Mars till I run out of air anyway. We knew it was a suicide mission even before we left Earth. I’d rather go out in a big bang and take you monsters with me.” He told himself and his shaking hand typed in another set of waypoints.
,,Hasta la vista, baby. ” He spoke with a smirk and pressed the firing button.

The elerium-powered bomb shot out of the tube and raced towards the big alien thing at the end of the room. Just before reaching it, it stopped in mid-air and slid to the left in a manoeuvre that only anti-gravity propulsion could do. It then slammed into the wall and exploded.

What the man didn’t know was that there was a large number of Elerium Powercores standing right behind that wall. The Elerium inside those was also added to the already titanic explosion. The Explosion spread outward and completely vaporized the Alien device but began to change as it spread. It turned pinkish and then golden. The explosion was far different than every other explosion he’d ever seen. He didn’t get a chance to wonder about what happened for the explosion smacked into him like a giant skyscraper falling on top of him. He lost consciousness from the blow.

[jack cloudy]

X-COM is definitely one of the best squad-based warfare games ever. Sure, it can't beat the new ones in terms of graphics or complexity but it is still good. I like how every action has mayor consequences. Your troops are very vulnerable even with the best armour. That's one reason why X-COM: Apocalypse was a dissapointment. Your troops were like walking tanks there. If I have to critisize it, it has to be the lack of civilians outside the Terror sites. There were never any farmers to worry about while all the barns got wasted by explosives.

Anyway, back to the story. Here you'll see one of the big problems assosiated with landing in a not so advanced society.



Chapter 1: By the Divines, there are people inside those Dwemer machines!

The colourful group of bandits moved along the rough path. Their last raid had been a good one, and they were on their way to their camp to celebrate. Suddenly, their leader stopped.
,,By the Daedra! Our camp, it’s ruined!” He blurted out and watched at the strange objects that were littered around what used to be the bandit’s camp. What looked like a metal man was sitting right in the pit they used as a toilet.

The bandits drew their weapons, ranging from sticks to a rusty Iron sword.
,,Lookie here, those filthy Dwarves decided to use our spot to dump their trash.” One of the bandits laughed. The leader frowned but said nothing. He already had enough worries with the Imperial Legion on his tail. He carefully moved over to the metal man.
,,Right, well it looks like one of those Dwarven things I once saw in a museum.” He muttered as he leaned in closer, with his sword ready at all times.

The metal man looked very odd to him. Even the face looked odd with what looked like two eyes made out of Ebony and a flexible horn of sorts protruding from one side. He tapped the biggest eye with his sword. The eye didn’t sound like Ebony. In fact none of the materials the man was made from seemed like anything he knew.
,,Right, whatever you are, I bet you’ll fetch a nice sum on the black market.”

,,There you are, Palladius Morcus. In the name of the Imperial Legion, you are charged for robbery, theft, murder, trespassing and….smuggling Dwemer artefacts has just been added to the list.”
The leader growled when he heard that familiar voice.
,,Not now, you stupid Legion woman.”
,,You’ll never get me alive! Get them, boys!” He shouted as he turned around.
The Legionaire captain smiled.
,,I hoped you were going to say that. I really prefer to hack you into little pieces anyway.” She responded.

The fight was short, but vicious. In the end, none of the bandits survived. The Legionaires hadn’t gotten away without a scratch either, and the healing potions were more than welcome.
,,Captain? What do we do with all this stuff that’s lying around?” One of the freshly healed Legionnaires asked.
,,It doesn’t quite look like Dwemer in the end. We’ll take it to my husband. He’d love to take a look at all this.”

The Legionaire grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.
,,Did you say something?” The captain said with a smile.
,,It’s just that the damn mage always seems to be there to take the glory but he never is there to help us out when things get rough.” The Legionnaire complained.
,,Well you didn’t complain when you drank one of the healing potions he provided. Now load it all on a cart. We’ll start with our steel man over there.”
The Legionnaire got all red but managed to recompose himself enough to bark a few orders.


,,Ow, my head hurts. How long have I been out? There’s still some oxygen in the tanks so it can’t have been more than two hours. That blast should have vaporized me. I wished it did, I don’t want to suffocate.” These and several more thoughts went through his head. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of trees and a blue sky.

,,Earth? What am I doing on Earth? Did the bugs bring me here? They would rather pull me through an autopsy so it can’t have been them. A rescue-mission? No, unless X-COM managed to find enough Elerium to fill up the Lightning and then somehow flew it all the way to Mars, any attempt to retrieve me would take months. Even if there was a second Avenger, they would never have arrived on time. So I can’t possibly be on Earth.” He realized that the only explanation for his current location was that he was dreaming. But the shaking felt very real. It felt as if he was lying on the back of a truck that was being driven over a very rough road.

,,Wherever I am, I doubt that I’m in the hands of the good guys. Come on Gerard, time to get back on your legs and get the hell out of here. You don’t need any freaking civilians who think they’re dealing with some sort of robot.” He tried to move his arm, but had to give up after a bit. He was simply too heavy to move. A quick glance at the small display in front of his eyes showed the weight of his situation.
,,Brilliant, that blast knocked the Elerium out of position. Without those rocks to create an anti-gravity field, my suit weighs a ton. I can’t even lift my hands far enough to remove my helmet. On top of that, my radio got fried so I can’t ask for help. Wow, I never dreamt that I would suffocate while there was a whole atmosphere to breath just beyond my helmet.” The rest of his airtank was used to voice some profanities that no one managed to hear.