Some of the new Medi-kits are put on board the Skyranger.
The new armor is assigned to the squad.
?Stroheim? gets the Heavy Cannon with AP ammo. Captain Sharpe gets the autocannon with HE ammo. Everyone else gets laser weapons and assorted equipment. We are now ready to commence Operation Elephant Graveyard.
Right off the bat, the HWP spots a Floater off to the side. The rocket hits right on target.
Laroyenne moves out into the landing zone and is fired upon, but avoids getting hit.
The alien fires at Laroyenne and the HWP, but misses.
We spot the source of the shots.
The HWP moves up, spotting a Reaper after blowing away the Floater.
Several of the squad takes shots at it, but Fujimoto's the one that brings it down.
As the HWP goes around the side of the ship, it draws hostile fire.
It spots one Floater, but we don't know how many we're up against yet so we pull back for now.
With the landing zone clear, we get the entire squad out on the field.
We send one half of the squad around the outside of the UFO, intending to go to the far end.
The other half follows the HWP, approaching the near end.
The HWP spots another Floater, but it's far too close to safely use the rocket launcher.
In driving across the small gap and going around to the nearby building, the HWP draws more hostile fire.
The HWP takes some damage, but remains intact. There's no time to use the rocket launcher, so the squad starts moving in to open fire.
Romanov can't get a good shot in from so close to the wall, but Cuvelier can.
We spot a Reaper behind the fallen Floater. It's not quite close enough to threaten us yet.
The other half of the squad advances through the smoke and destruction left from earlier HWP attacks.
In turning to open fire on the Reaper we already saw, we spot another one.
However, a Floater out of our sight gets a shot at Cuvelier, killing him.
Romanov finishes what Cuvelier started, taking out both Reapers.
Fujimoto sees a Floater at close range, and lets loose with a burst of laser fire.
Laroyenne moves up, meaning the squad on the near side of the ship is ready to move in.
The floater that hit Cuvelier comes into sight. Romanov gets hit, but survives.
Fujimoto gets a Medi-kit out, and treats the wounds before they become life-threatening.
The HWP has gone around the building near the UFO, and has a shot lined up on the Floater. With the rocket's trajectory perpendicular to the UFO hull, there's no way for the alien to escape the blast, and it falls out of the air.
Fujimoto gets his pistol ready, and the squad gets ready to push into the UFO.
Going inside, we find that the interceptors have blown up the engines yet again... and that there's Reapers inside the ship, too.
Going around the outside of the ship, Stewart spots a single Floater wandering around. She gets it in one shot.
The situation inside the wrecked ship gets more precarious as we spot another Reaper. Andianov gets one of them, at least.
Moving up, Fujimoto notices a hole in the upper part of the UFO, revealing even more hostiles. He tries taking some shots, but it's not enough. Because of that, there's not enough time to get out of the way and the Floater on the top floor guns him down.
There's no way to get a good shot in from the bottom floor, so we're just avoiding the hole and making our way up carefully.
We slowly advance through the hallway, being careful of the Reaper.
The floater hit by the HWP somehow managed to survive, but it's injured and no longer has its weapon. This is the perfect opportunity to stun it. Meanwhile, Andianov manages to take out the Reaper, clearing the way to advance to the doorway.
?Stroheim?, ?Berserk?, ,Andianov, and Romanov make their way to the upper portion of the ship.
?Stroheim? encounters a Floater in an unusual chamber; the Heavy Cannon's not enough to bring it down, and it returns fire with a small launcher. Romanov and Laroyenne are knocked out, but ?Stroheim? has enough stamina to take it at point-blank range.
Andionov goes around to the door behind the alien and opens fire at point-blank range from behind.
While all this was going on, Captain Sharpe went back to the Skyranger to get a Stun Rod, and has caught up with the unarmed Floater. One good poke is all it takes to knock it back out.
The other half of the team has managed to get into the ship now.
On the upper floor, ?Stroheim? switches to a laser pistol for more effectiveness at close range.
Things on the bottom floor are starting to go south. A Floater that escaped our search managed to take out Ulbricht and the HWP.
?Stroheim? and Andianov raid the cockpit, which was partially damaged in the crash. The sole alien at the controls is quickly taken out by a close-range attack.
However, someone managed to ambush ?Stroheim?, taking him out from behind.
A quick sweep finds the Floater who's been sneaking around the ship, and it gets taken down by Andianov.
All that's left is a Reaper trapped on a broken platform. With no way to get over or through the hole, it's a sitting duck for the squad.
Result of Operation Elephant Graveyard:Sarah Stewart: 1 kill, promoted to Sergeant
Mikhail Andianov: 4 kills, not promoted
Leonid Romanov: 2 kills, not promoted, wounded in action, will recover in 29 days
Andrea Sharpe: 1 kills, 1 capture, not promoted
Rene ?Berserk? Laroyenne: 0 kills, not promoted
Sam ?Lightspeed? McNeil: 0 kills, not promoted
Gerhard ?Stroheim? Meyer: Killed in action
Gerard Cuvelier: Killed in action
Masanori Fujimoto: Killed in action
Gerhard Ulbricht: Killed in action
HWP destroyed
12 aliens killed by X-COM ground forces
2 aliens captured by X-COM ground forces
UFO hull, navigation, and miscellaneous systems recovered
This was a brutal battle, with heavy casualties on both sides. Despite our losses, we came out ahead and not only recovered the UFO, but live aliens for study and interrogation. The ship contained massive numbers of alien forces, enough to attack a city. If that was the purpose of this flight, then we managed to avoid another Los Angeles scenario when we shot it down.
