Marc Lecointe

An X-com story

First part

Let me take a moment to tell you about Sergeant Marc Lecointe.

First of all, Marc is a man. He is more of a man than you or I will ever be.

Armed with a mere laser rifle and a pair of electro flares, he boldly made the first step off the skyranger to meet the alien foe terrorizing London in the middle of the goddamn night.

First thing that happens as soon as he steps off the ramp? Some bitch snakeman, no doubt terrified at the sight of the can of whoopass it had opened, opened fire from the quite unmanly safety of a dark alley nearby.

Got Marc right in the face.

Let me tell you something. Marc survived that shot. And he was not happy about it.

Now, we all know what happens to operatives who take a healthy dose of plasma to the face.

First, they usually die. Second, in the unlikely event that they aren't jettisoned from the mortal coil, most of their capabilities plummet. Aiming and firing, after all, is unreasonably difficult when you have a hole in your arm. Or your face.

Not so in the case of Marc Lecointe.

I will admit, I did not have faith in Marc. He had 17 health left, and was fatally wounded. He was a dead man with a gun in his hands, for all I cared.

After gunning down his cowardly assailant, he took point for a division of operatives, who were intended to use him as a no-risk scout to spot for them. Snakemen in a nighttime terror mission, after all, means chryssalids are close by. It's only right to minimize risks, whatever moral concerns are raised by the method.

Marc proceeded to bring down chryssalids after rounding corners with no support, and sniped several snakemen that had been spotted by the other division of agents, clear across the other side of the map.

Such was his bitter rampage of spite that, by the end of the mission, Sergeant Marc Lecointe had been single handedly responsible for murdering half a dozen chryssalids and four snakemen. His aim was impeccable. His thirst for vengeance was unquenchable.

Marc returned safely from the mission with 4 health remaining. He will spend the next 48 days in the Infirmary of X-Com's primary command center in North Africa.

Marc Lecointe did not receive any promotions following the now infamous midnight defense of London.

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 unglorious 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.