(See previous entry for context.)

Saturday, January 2
12:02

Guns arrived. Didn’t even have to pay extra for overnight shipping. Possibility exists that X-Com is funded by Amazon.com.

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Monday, Jan 4
12:00

And here’s those new recruits.

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16:53

Troop review. Educational. For one thing, my first crop wasn’t a fluke — this is about as good (and bad) as it’ll get, it looks like. Mix of competencies. Mix of physical abilities. Some of these grunts could stare down a grizzly, some of ‘em nearly fell over when I walked past.

Callsigns for the newbies: Turtle, Peregrine, Gila, Gazelle, Ox, Chimpanzee, Albatross, Gorilla, Hamster, Bull, Goat, Porpoise, Marmot, Cheetah, Badger, and Wolverine.

If we keep growing the team I’m going to have to break out an encyclopedia.

I’m assigning Peregrine, Ox, Albatross, Gorilla, Bull and Wolverine to the active team along with the original complement. Troop transport holds 14, no reason not to have a full boat if and when we see any action.

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Tuesday, Jan 5
13:04

Putting one of our Interceptors through a milk run; I need to see operational range on these things with my own eyes, know how far our reach is. My handler assured me that flight clearance was “taken care of”, which is a nice trick; I’m pointing our pilot at New Dehli, which should cross a lot of airspace.

Here’s hoping we don’t run into anything that hasn’t been taken care of after all. I need to know what we can get away with.

—

13:09

Five minutes from go order to launch. Not bad. Flight deck crew isn’t slouching.

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17:06

Hit the fuel limit just short of the Indian border. Called him back in. It’s not perfect — even with a straightline flight we’ve got an operational hole the size of the moon on the other side of the planet, at least until we can get another facility established overseas — but it’s not bad.

Need to take the troop transport out for a spin soon as well. Tomorrow, maybe.

—

Wednesday, Jan 6
8:17

Update on the Interceptor test: refuel and turn-around took about eight hours last night. Not great. With two birds we can in theory keep one in the air at all times if it comes to that, but it won’t leave us much flexibility. Let’s hope X-Com doesn’t have to spend too much time chasing foo fighters around.

News from the science team: they’re ready to start focusing the laser research into an actual weapon prototype. They’ve asked to start in on researching into a pistol as a proof-of-concept. I’d rather have something beefier, but it’s a start.

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Sunday, Jan 10
11:42

New general stores complete. Existing warehouse not yet at capacity; considering installing foosball table in the new space for the time being.

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Monday, Jan 11
2:16

Holy christ, we’ve got a craft sighting, a couple hundred miles south. Scrambling an Interceptor to recon the area while the troop transport lumbers out.

Maybe this isn’t a bullshit op after all. Or maybe some kids are playing with flashlights. I don’t know how good our radar guys are yet.

—

2:56

Unidentified craft twigged and bolted out over the Atlantic when our jet was still fifteen minutes out. God dammit. I want this thing.

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5:01

Craft is faster than the Interceptor, just barely but enough to keep us from closing. No visual confirmation, could be a Russian jet for all I know. Over mainland Europe now, just crossed the dateline more or less. Troop transport is on its tail in case we get lucky, but I’m worried now that we’re not going to be able to seal the deal.

No communication from local air force or military. Not clear why this is our game alone, but I’ve been instructed not to make any outreach from X-Com, and I’m not sure I want to test that prohibition without a damned good reason.

—

5:08

Lost the craft. Over Switzerland. Possible Nazi-gold angle here? Bad joke. I could hit something.

Directing the Interceptor to keep a flyover going while we’ve got the fuel, maybe we’ll get lucky and pick it up again.

—

9:47

Bingo fuel on the Interceptor. Bringing them both home, the transport isn’t equipped for a fight in any case if it got stuck out there alone.

God dammit.

I want ears in Europe and I want them now. But I can’t afford to start building a new base, not with this one only half-staffed and most of my budget blown.

—

Sunday, Jan 17
Morning

Busy night. New living quarters are complete. And the science team completed research on the laser pistol prototype!

It’s a nice looking weapon; puts out a lot more energy than our standard pistols. Not exactly crack shot stuff, though. Hopefully my guys can locate some broad sides of barns when the shit hits the fan.

I’ve already got the team working on a rifle model. I’d like something a little more reliable to work with, in the long run. And with the new quarters ready, I think I’ll staff up the science team. Clearly we’re getting results.

Manufacturing group estimates 300 man hours to build one pistol, which comes down to a little over a day per unit for my current engineering staff to produce. I might need to staff up there as well, especially if fabbing rifles turns out to be comparatively more time consuming.

—

17:07

Another craft on the ground. Granada. Scrambling.

18:23

Fighter in pattern over craft, sighting confirmed. Let’s not have any bullshit this time.

19:44

Hot damn. Troop transport in position. Giving the landing order. Let’s take a look at these little green bastards.

(On to log entry #3…)