June 15, 9:32:05 hours - Havoc in Hong Kong

"You pretty much know the drill by now", Commander LUEshi stated. "We received a distress signal from Hong Kong. They're under attack by snakemen and the new chryssalids you encountered recently. But...this won't be a walk in the park. Reports are indicating that these things can infect a host, turning it into a carrier for it's eggs...and that any strong application of energy will cause a new chryssalid to hatch from the host. Do not rely on your armor to protect you, we want no chances taken with this, and I'm sure none of you would particularly enjoy gunning a comrade down. Initial casualty reports are light. Let's keep them that way. Dismissed."

------

The Skyranger could not find room to land, so it air-dropped the troops, including their HWP, from ten feet. The HWP's cannon thundered before it even hit the ground, a shell crashing into a chryssalid's chest and knocking it backward, but a pair of plasma bolts reduced it to scrap immediately.

"That's an auspicious start to the day", muttered Sixty, as he hit ground, took a quick drag from his cigarette, and lit up the offending snakeman, a perfect trio of blasts from Mokujin finishing off the wounded chryssalid. Mensco hit ground then and took off running for the point, shooting another snakeman on the run. He then stopped and stared in horror as a chryssalid ambushed an unwitting civilian, the civilian's body bloating horribly. Mensco levelled his plasma rifle at the doomed man and tried to give him a merciful death, but the ensuing explosion of gore heralded the arrival of a newborn, fully grown chryssalid. "Jesus fuck!", he screamed, gunning down the thing and drawing the attention of Sixty, who fired his own plasma bolts at the first horror, destroying it as well.

"Did you fucking SEE that? From egg to full-grown fucking Predator-type shit in five seconds? That's im-fucking-possible!", Mensco shouted. "You just saw it, so it's pretty fucking possible if you ask me!", Sixty replied. "You see all sorts of weird shit on this job! I mean, did you see the picture of the girl Grammar has on his bunk wall? That's fucking weird", he snickered, drawing a dirty look from Grammar, who wheeled and fired upon another chryssalid stalking the marketplace for easy prey, killing it.

Child of Asuka found himself very busy, squaring off Eastwood-style against a pair of snakemen, the dusty street replaced by the smoking ruins of what used to be a house. Covering fire from several members of the squad gave him the necessary distraction, and plasma bolts zipped down the "street" and ending the duel.

Grammar, scouting the battlefield quickly, jumped as a plasma bolt erupted into the wall next to his head. He couldn't spot his attacker, so he took cover behind a nearby lamppost, calling for backup. His call was answered first by Shadow calling out the thing's location, and Sonic's ensuing plasma bolt, which slammed into the plasma rifle the thing had been holding, overloading it and causing it to implode, killing the horrified creature.

Child of Asuka barely had time to radio the next target before a blast from Ramza357 knocked it to the ground. Shadowhunter, turning around, snapped off his own shots, burning holes through a nearby snake's skull, and Child of Asuka gunned down yet another of the beasts coming from an apartment complex. Grammar scored another kill as well, then spotted a chryssalid charging toward him. Not wanting to take any chances, after seeing what the wicked things could do, he wisely turned and sprinted off in full retreat. A snap-shot from Ancisace killed another snake, then he let out his own horrified yelp as the chryssalid that had been pursuing Grammar suddenly changed direction and pounced another defenseless citizen. Not wasting any time, five of the members fired their plasma bolts at the pair, Zolthorg striking the infected citizen once, then again, effectively ending the change before it could begin, and Sixty's bolt caught the attacker and blasted it to pieces.

Though it revolted them to shoot what appeared to be innocent civilians in distress, they realized that there was no hope for the infected, and went about their business with impassionate efficiency. Casualty reports were amazingly low, considering the breeding habits of the newest battlefield horror they had witnessed, and after confirming all enemy presence destroyed, the team marched to the outskirts of town, loading onto the Skyranger, though none of them spoke on the flight home.

SUCCESS
Aliens Killed - 15
Corpses Recovered - 15
Live Aliens Captured - 1
Civilians Killed - 3
Civilians Saved - 8
HWP destroyed in combat

Total Mission Kills (all missions)
The Grammar Police01 - 18
Sixty - 12
Child of Asuka - 18
Zolthorg - 3
Mokujin - 12
Ramza357 - 4
Ancisace - 5
shadowzero313 - 4
Mensco - 5
sonics true enemy - 1




<----- Chapter 17 - The Big One That Didn't Quite Get Away
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