(Mission five continued)

During the next hidden movement phase, the Sectoid outside the UFO takes aim at John and misses. But then another alien marches toward us directly out of the front door of the space craft, and fills John’s body full of flesh-melting plasma.

It’s not all bad, though. Just as Vasquez reloaded her M56 smartgun and yelled a resounding, “Let’s rock," James unleashes a torrent of bullets from his standard-issue rifle, which kills one of our slippery foes.

Similarly, I launch a large rocket at an alien approaching from the north, while Michael blasts the bastard who mercilessly turned John into a steaming pile of plasma-melted flesh and bone.

And Michael guns down another Sectoid near the UFO with blast from his laser rifle.

The next hidden phase, though, is when the crazy finally hits. Guillermo is the center of much of this activity -- first, one of the two Sectoids seen together earlier in the mission appears through the smoke from my missile attack. Guillermo dodges plasma fire and uses his quick reactions to kill the alien with a laser blast.

Next, another alien exits the UFO and hurls plasma at Guillermo. Luckily, the Sectoid misses, and Jay gets back in his groove of heavy-cannon sniping -- he hits the creature as it re-enters the spaceship for safety. Too bad it left the door open!

Alas, that other Sectoid’s buddy emerges from the smoke to enact its revenge on Guillermo, who falls to a hail of hot, plasma fire. Poor Guillermo -- out of the action as quickly as he first plunged knee deep in the shit.

Finally, one last, surviving alien gets off a few pot-shots at James and misses.

On our next turn, Jay takes out Guillermo’s killer with an aimed, HE heavy-cannon shell, and James eliminates the alien who fired on him just a moment ago.

With the surrounding area secure, we make our way to the UFO’s hull door. I set Jay up to watch for any Sectoids attempting to leave the craft, and he doesn’t disappoint me. He pops the next two aliens to exit with explosive fire and armored-piercing rounds.

We’re now ready to enter the UFO. Since Jay has the highest reaction time, he gets the honor of opening the door.

Once inside, Thomas spots an alien; however, I order him to stay put. That Sectoid has its sights set on Thomas! One move could spell his doom.

Instead, I order Michael to flank him from the other side of the ship. He unloads a barrage of laser fire, which brings down the last alien of the mission.

Post-mission

Although we lost a few soldiers, we did well over all. In fact, we somehow recover a live alien! Here are the mission results.

Additionally, a number of us receive promotions.

With the close of mission five, we see the end of our first month in operation. Most of the world rates our progress as "excellent", and we receive an increase in funding. Good job, everyone!