Editing Marc Lecointe (section)

==Second part==

Disaster has struck the squad of the newly appointed Captain Marc Lecointe. He and his operatives have just learned, the hard way, that supply ships with sectoids in them tend to use a lot of psychic attacks.

Our brave team's first experience with mind control left three dead. Two brave soldiers shot to death by the rookie in their wing, only a single turn after leaving the Skyranger. The rookie in question, of course, was promptly gunned down. We at X-Com have a strict policy regarding psychic instability.

As the supply ship had been shot down, some damage was expected. What was not expected was the loss of all three engines and large chunks of the second floor. This resulted in much more than a disappointing recovery, as there were still several cowardly aliens lurking on the still intact parts of the second floor. Two attempt to gain access to the UFO were driven back by this cowardly form of ambush.

Finally, Captain Marc Lecointe stepped up to the plate.

To be quite frank, Captain Lecointe had quite enough of this shit by the time he kicked down the door separating him from the shattered interior of the UFO.

Like the other operatives who attempted to gain entry, Marc was quickly targeted and fired upon. Seeing as how X-Com has not yet provided any sort of personal armor for its soldiers at this point, things weren't looking good for our brave defender of humanity.

The sound and smell of cooked flesh filled the UFO. Captain Lecointe had been shot. In the back, no less!

I will tell you something. This made Marc stop in his tracks. This made Marc quite unhappy.

But it did not make Marc dead. This blunder would be the sectoids' undoing.

A simple, nonchalant about face revealed the location of our cowardly foe. His petty resistance came to an inglorious end, stopped by a single snap shot of Captain Lecointe's new Heavy Plasma gun.

The last obstacle to the control room was eliminated. Marc resumed his march on the grav lift, his back still steaming. He put on a good show for the rookies, but anyone could see he would not last long. He had 13 health. He had three fatal wounds. His back smelled like overcooked ribs basted in spicy A1.

He was not happy.

The psychic assault now singled out Marc Lecointe, but it was a meaningless gesture of resistance. Captain Lecointe had a mind of steel. Two sergeants followed him to the UFO's third level, and took the southern detour to the control room. Marc took the direct route.

They were too slow. The sergeants, I mean. Still some distance to go. Marc stood around the corner to the bridge's doorway. Time was up. He has a single point of health remaining. With nothing but a bar full of time units, a gun half-full of plasma, and a body still mostly full of guts, he rounded the corner.

There stood the alien psychic.

And his two bodyguards.

All facing Captain Marc Lecointe's final assault head on.

They did not stand a chance.

One frantically fired in Lecointe's direction, missing his entire burst at near point-blank range. The two following bursts from Marc Lecointe showed the psychic and his bodyguard, no doubt weak from constantly hiding in small rooms and mind controlling enemies from complete safety, how to properly operate their own weaponry.

Captain Marc Lecointe is scheduled to return to the service in 55 days. Perhaps he'll receive his well-earned promotion while recuperating again.

Eight operatives died in that mission. Lecointe stands as the force's only operative with a 5 to 1 kill-to-mission ratio.