X-COM: The 4th Dimension 2 - Epsilon (Base IC)

[Inspectre]

The sun rises over a new day, although you wouldn't be aware of such things given the tons of stone that surround you on all sides.
Built deep into the heart of Mount Irongullet, the headquarters of X-COM is a stranger to daylight but never truly sleeps.
Even in the middle of night the sound of footsteps echo through the hallways, as messengers run back and forth between the base's various chambers.

This morning seems different from those of the past month - perhaps its just your imagination but the messengers running past the door to your quarters seem more numerous today.
The air is filled with an electric excitement at odds with the almost tomb-like mood Mount Irongullet usually displays.
Something was going to happen today.

But if something was going on, the assignment would probably be given to one of the other teams as you were in Epsilon Team, the fifth and last fireteam - it had been drilled into your head over and over that there was no ranking between X-COM's fireteams, that the team names were just designations as each fireteam had to be called something. But if that was the case, why use numerical designations at all? Such reassurances certainly did nothing to curb the competition between fireteams, and with no one actually being sent out on assignment yet, "friendly" competition and rumor-mongering were about the only things around here to do besides train and practice fighting in preparation for an enemy that no one knew anything about.

Still . . . today was going to be different.
You could feel it, and it seemed as if the mountain itself could feel it too.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Cinder Ashborn, Pixie Harrier Cinder can be found, like most mornings, sitting on the bar of the soldier's cantina, nursing a thimble of elven wine. The quality of the wine wasn't great to start with, the vintage so poor it was sold to the military, and even though it was served to Cinder chilled, it has long since matched air temperature. But then, Cinder is not a heavy drinker -at least not without reason- and even if she were, it would still take her a long time to go through a container roughly twice the size of her head. Still, it was the smallest container the barman could find, and Cinder is glad to have any elven wine at all. Forced inactivity and the lack of sunlight reminds her a little too much of the time she had been picked as escort to Queen Cerridwen's diplomatic trip to Unseelie lands. Cinder had thought it a step up, but soon discovered that, while it probably was, it was not worth the tedium. Cinder takes an ungraceful sip from the thimble, then frowns at the tension-filled room. "Yo, barman, any idea of what's goin' on? There's somethin' different in th'air. 'Eard anythin's up?"

Spoiler: OOC

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So, just remembered we had this thread laying around, gathering dust, and though it might be nice to give it a spin and in doing so give Inspectre more time to prepare next combat. When is this supposed to be happening? A few days before we left for the island?