The outskirts of Vancouver, Canada, early morning. The Skyranger sets down in the car park outside a wholesale wine merchant's. The whistle of passing cars on the motorway is uncanny, the early morning commuters eerily unaware of the danger they are in.
The squad fans out: Sgt. "Twitch" Gent, with Sqs. Hill, Gent, Ash and new boy Saxby. Hill quickly spots a pair of Sectoids and a routine scrubbing commences. Stray fire sees Twitch having to leap clear of an exploding car, but otherwise the enemy is dispatched without fuss.
The routine is quickly shaken up.
Bursting out from behind the rows of bottles, two twisted, agonised amalgams of flesh and metal, bobbing and jerking within the confines of the wholesaler's. A new foe from the alien menagerie.
With typically crude barracks humour, the troops are already calling these things "Floaters".
Their weird, jinking flight throws off attempts to suppress them, allowing the abominations to bull right up into the doorway, with a bead on Sgt. Gent. The squad remains unfazed, however. Twitch's grenade makes short work of the Floater's cover, filling the air with with glass and the pungent aroma of rich, dark reds and light, zesty whites. Sqs. Gent and Saxby step up and take them down.
They quickly proceed to cover inside the wine merchant's, where a cheery honkytonk tune jangles from a jukebox. Before long, Hill gets Mk. I eyeball on two more Floaters in the trendy bar next door. They react quickly. Hill throws himself to one side as suppressing fire tears away the wall in front of him, spraying him with burning splinters. Meanwhile, the second Floater launches itself with alarming agility, landing in a flanking position on Hill's left.
Lunging out from behind the jukebox, Saxby lobs in a smoke grenade. Trusting to speed and smoke to keep him alive, Hill dashes for safety, alien fire splashing around him as he skids into cover.
During this distraction, the Gent brothers take out the flanking Floater with a quick shotgun/grenade combo.
Finally, sighting through the swirling smoke, Sq. Gent snipes the final X-ray and signals the all clear.
Another textbook operation. All Squaddies will be promoted to Corporal.
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