CHAPTER 1: Gatecrasher
The year is 2035. Twenty years after XCOM's defeat during the alien invasion, the ADVENT administration celebrates the 20th anniversary of Unification Day to commemorate the formation of the ADVENT Coalition. XCOM has been in hiding since the bulk of its forces was destroyed and all record of its existence erased. Under the command of their battle-hardened CO Bradford, XCOM now returns to take the fight to our alien overlords one more time. Resistance cells across the globe prepare for a coordinated sudden strike..
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Operation: Gatecrasher, ADVENT Surveillance Ward, Sapporo
Objective: Sabotage ADVENT Monument
Operatives: DelirusRex, Pifanjr, Big Country, Rensje
Our strike team dropped as soon we got word that Bradford succeeded in disrupting ADVENT's celebrations. The objective: destroying one of ADVENT's precious monuments, sending a clear message that XCOM is back and ready to fight for our planet once more. The team lands on a rooftop overlooking the monument and immediately spots a group of Troopers, just standing in the middle of the road.
Striking from concealment, Rensje announces their arrival by scoring a double grenade kill on two of the nearby Troopers. The third trooper, only seconds after taking the last sip of his morning coffee, is so startled by the brashness of the attack that he doesn't really know what to do with himself. He makes a run for it, but unfortunately for him he runs right into an ambush set up by DelirusRex and Big Country, with BC hitting the poor Trooper square in the face. So far, so good.
The team takes a moment to reload and collect themselves before slowly moving up to the monument. A parked lorry provides some much needed cover. Before long, DelirusRex spots a second group of Troopers, this time led by a dangerous ADVENT Officer. They spot our soldiers and run for cover before anyone can react.
Fortunately, the Officer seems overconfident and thinks a park bench is plenty of protection from a bunch of untrained XCOM rookies. Being the clever chaps that we are, we hatch a plan. Big Country is in grenade range of the Officer and although a single grenade impact won't be enough to destroy the Officer's advanced armour, it could destroy the bench he's cowering behind and set us up for a nice flanking shot.
He slam dunks the grenade like Kobe and leaves the officer standing in the open. Pifanjr spots an opportunity and takes aim.
As you can see, he isn't the best shot in the world, but Pi proves himself to be effective at performing under pressure. He strikes true and the Officer goes down, leaving behind a nice little piece of loot for us to collect. Meanwhile, the Trooper sitting behind him gets taken care of by Rensje, who manages to flank him from behind a concrete pillar. Nice job, mate.
That just leaves one more Trooper hiding behind the monument, but no one has a decent shot at him. Rookie DelirusRex moves up and takes cover behind the lorry, which he assumed would be ample protection from incoming fire. Sadly, he was wrong. The overachieving Trooper decides he wants to go down in a blaze of glory and manages to get a hit in on DR before finally getting destroyed by Pifanjr's grenade. DR lives, but he will be out of commission for a while.
With the last trooper down, Big Country plants the X4 charges on the monument and the team beelines for the Skyranger. The exloding monument provides a fitting celebratory fireworks display for a mission well accomplished.
It's promotions all around for our scrappy rookies. Miraculously, DelirusRex only needs about a week in the infirmary. Come on mate, we've seen worse. It's just a flesh wound. He gets to enjoy his new sword from his hospital bed as he's been promoted to Ranger. Big Country will be our first tech Specialist, while Pifanjr decides he likes things to go boom and volunteers for the position of Grenadier. Myself, I pick up a sniper rifle and pistol and decide to fulfill the proud role of skittish Sharpshooter.
Back aboard the Avenger, Shen builds us a flashbang and Dr. Tygen sets about researching modular weapons, because apparently we haven't yet figured out how scopes work in the year 2035. It's fine. Our headquarters is situated in the New Arctic region, near the coast of the Siberian sea. While passing the time, we find some extra supplies we can use and get word of a nearby resistance cell that can bolster our forces with some new recruits. Inside the Avenger, work commences on our first facility: the Guerilla Tactics School.
On March 7, literal hours before DelirusRex is discharged from the infirmary, we get the opportunity to strike at a relay under ADVENT control, potentially preventing word of our resurgence from spreading across the Aliens' communications network in the area for some time to come. Down a man, we decide to go in regardless. In the late afternoon of March 7, we launch operation Dying Skull.
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Operation: Dying Skull, outskirts of Novgorod, New Arctic
Objective: Destroy Alien Relay
Operatives: Pifanjr, Big Country, Rensje, Waltz
Before we launch, Pifanjr is equipped with a kevlar helmet to protect him from his own worst impulses, and I dye my armour fifty shades of black so as to be more invisible from a distance. Waltz is the lucky bastard who gets to accompany us vets on this second outing, and we can only pray for his safety.
The Skyranger drops the team off at the edge of Novgorod, and gingerly they inch forward towards the nearby petrol station. We know that the relay has been set up inside the shop, but it's far and we only have 8 minutes before we're too late to intercept the transmission. Big Country takes a risk and runs ahead to get a better view of the surroundings.
Right under the all-seeing eye of a nearby security tower, BC spots a Sectoid and a Trooper standing guard at a nearby road block. The squad sets up for ambush behind an abandoned car nearby, and rookie Waltz does what rookies do best: he inches forward to lob a grenade.
The Trooper is instantly dead, flung over the barrier by the grenade's impact. The Sectoid lives, spotting the group and running for cover so it can strike back from relative safety. Before it gets the chance, Rensje manages to catch it out in the open with a well-placed overwatch shot. Two down, the rest of the team takes a breath and prepares to move up again.
A few minutes later, the squad spots another Trooper and his Officer under the steel canopy of the petrol station. They were alerted by the sound of a nearby explosion and lay waiting. Big Country and Pifanjr find themselves horribly flanked, but Waltz manages to outsmart the watchmen and flanks the Trooper in kind. Making his German ancestors proud, he proves himself quite the exterminator and fires a few rounds into the Trooper's overly large head.
That just leaves the Officer. He's positioned far back and in high cover, making him difficult to get to and therefore dangerous. Big Country sees no other way out than to run into high cover and Rensje cannot fire at the Officer from his position, leaving Pifanjr to pick up the slack. Determined to save his frag grenade should he need it later, he decides to flashbang the Officer instead. It proves effective, as the Officer does not dare move out of cover and even forgets to go into overwatch.
The team assesses the situation. No one can flank the Officer because he is still too far away, and hitting him with gunfire will be difficult. Rensje and Waltz take pot shots, but both rounds fail to connect. The time is ticking and Big Country's patience is running out. He jumps forward and lobs a grenade at the fuel pump, blowing up it, the car behind and the Officer for good measure. Looking smug, Big Country darts back into cover and leaves Pifanjr to blow up the relay.
With the primary mission objective out of the way, Pifanjr and the rest move up to mop up the survivors. Before long, they run into another Trooper and his Sectoid buddy. They take cover inside and behind the nearby building, and the team dig in and overwatch so they can lash out next turn. Pifanjr launches a grenade at the Sectoid, destroying its cover and forcing him to move.
The Sectoid foolishly repositions behind a large gas tank on the side of the building, making him an easy target for anyone in range. Don't count it out yet, though. Before the squad can respond, the Sectoid resurrects a nearby civilian that got caught in the crossfire. Zombified, it stumbles across to Rensje's fortified position.
Mindful of the fact that blowing up the Sectoid could destroy some potential loot that it's carrying, Rensje tries to get a sneaky sniper shot in from afar. If he manages to hit, the team won't need to blow up the tank. Unfortunately he misses despite his best intentions, and so does Waltz. Big Country, having had enough of their incompetence, fires at the gas tank from close range and blows up the Sectoid for good.
Pifanjr, never one to be standing on the sideline, runs back to the front of the building and manages to flank the remaining Trooper. Being quite the trooper himself, he pumps the alien scum full of lead and with that, saves the day for XCOM.
Dying Skull was an unmistakeable success. No one got injured or left behind and that relay won't function for a while. Back at the Avenger, it's time for another round of promotions. Waltz, ever the German, has shown an aptitude for murdering lesser species wholesale and is promoted to Grenadier. Rensje receives a commendation for his impressive Sectoid kill early on and gets promoted to Corporal. As for Pifanjr and Big Country, well.. they are undervalued for now. Just keep overdelivering guys, you will get your promotions in due time!
While we were busy laying the smackdown on some alien scum, Dr. Tygen managed to research modular weapon tech and has since commenced working on hybrid materials. Shen puts a newly acquired engineer to work building the GTS and then.. a strange call comes in.
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The Council yet survives. Interesting. The alien Blacksite is our next port of call, but we are a little understaffed and poorly equipped, so figuring out what this 'Avatar' project entails will have to wait for a bit. In the meantime, Big Sky intercepted a faint distress signal from a familiar source. The old Skyranger, Big Sky's former pride and joy, lay downed in a field with some precious cargo on board. The Avenger heads over there to pick it up, and we find some interesting and unique equipment. It appears to have to been used to hunt aliens. The Hunter's Axes and Bolt Caster in particular catch our eye.
Construction of the Guerilla Tactics School is now complete, and we immediately put forward our first rookie for training. Jenske 'Jammer' Lemmens commences training as a Ranger, and through the wizardry of the GTS the field teams may now find extra loot like the vultures they are. Tygen finishes up Alien Biotech research and commences work on Resistance Comms, so we may restore contact with other cells on the continent.
Before we can resume our search for the local resistance cell that has some soldiers to spare, we get an incoming call from a Dr. An Gao. She is a scientist working for ADVENT, but she has had enough and has agreed to work for XCOM if they can guarantee her safe extraction. Once again, it's up to the strike team to get out there and get dirty. Commence operation Fire Slap!
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Operation: Fire Slap, ADVENT Priority Ward, Novgorod
Objective: Extract VIP from ADVENT city
Operatives: DelirusRex, Big Country, Rensje, Pifanjr
With no time to lose and our window for extraction closing quickly, the Skyranger came in hot and the team is caught in the open when they find Dr. Gao. The Skyranger sets up for extraction at a safe distance while the men form a perimeter around the scared professor. One foot in front of the other, they move forward as one while trying to stay in cover as much as possible.
It isn't long before an ADVENT patrol finds them. Fortunately, our soldiers look alive and manage to catch a Sectoid out in the open as it's about to duck for cover. Pifanjr only manages to redecorate the once lovely urban environment, but a well-aimed shot from Big Country critically injures the slimy git and DelirusRex seals the deal with a stray bullet from his shotgun.
The Trooper on the left is now praying for its alien gods to help him in his time of need, but the gods require sacrifice and it is Rensje who delivers it to them in the form of some neatly perforated alien guts. He hits the trooper so perfectly between the eyes that the bullet's impact hurls him backwards, folding him into a neat pile against a nearby tree. We think the gods would be proud of his handiwork.
Nearby, an ADVENT Officer is feeding some pidgeons while watching the news. Looks like we're famous, lads! As he looks over his shoulder, he realises that a few faces on ADVENT's most wanted list are staring right at him and he bolts to cover. Worried his beautiful crimson cloak might get dirty, he sends a Trooper to scout ahead and take some bullets for the motherland. This is Russia, after all.
Big Country, offended by the Officer's cowardice, decides to get close and dispatch the creeping commander with prejudice. A beautifully cooked stake pierces his alien heart and sends him to his overlords on a silver platter. Lordy lord, what a powerful weapon! It may only fire once before you need to reload it, but that thing could put down a bison in a single shot. A puny Officer proves to be no problem either.
Now that Trooper McTrooperson is the highest ranking ADVENT soldier in the immediate vicinity, he looks on in terror as the rest of the squad move up to go for his throat. It's squaddie DelirusRex who gets there first, and from a beautiful flanking position he delivers murder to the Trooper's doorstep. Helmet or not, the terror in his unliving eyes is obvious. Good job there's some storm drains in the pavement to wash the blood away.
Honestly, it's going maybe a bit too well, isn't it? How much longer before it all goes to pot and squaddies start dying left and right? Feeling perhaps a touch overconfident, the squad moves up to the tall building ahead, where the Skyranger is burning fuel at an alarming rate. Just a few more minutes before it has to take off, and the team isn't even close!
Around the side of the building, we finally run into what looks to be our last adversaries of the day. On the first floor of the office building, a Sectoid and a Trooper come streaking past the window. Pifanjr misses his overwatch shot but blows out pretty much the entire side of the building, giving Rensje a chance to wound the naked alien rat with his pistol. The Sectoid and the Trooper both run for cover, but DelirusRex is having none of it. He hurls one of his axes at the Trooper, killing the poor sod instantly, and uses the other axe to slice up to the Sectoid into tasty alien sashimi. The man is a veritable axe murderer. Glorious!
Suddenly, the team finds itself with time to spare, and all that's left to do is to take a leisurely stroll to the Skyranger for extraction. Always the gentlemen, our boys let the lady get roped into the Skyranger first and then follow suit for the ride home.
Just look at these ballers! Congratulations on a job well done, guys. Tygen finally gets to boss someone around and maybe, just maybe our research will get done a little faster too! Everyone but Rensje gets promoted and they all retreat to the bar for a well-deserved drink. We even managed to extract some loot and score some valuable intel in the process!
While the team was out doing its thing, the Avenger found the rookies we were looking for and happened upon an encrypted signal, likely left by the late Dr. Shen, Lily's father. Decrypting it would mean going to the signal's location, and there's currently more pressing matters to attend to, so that will have to wait. First we need a good night's sleep!
Join me next time as we prepare to restore comms with resistance cells in East and West Asia and receive our first paycheck for a job well done. Want to know how the team is doing? Check out the roster on page 1 of this topic! For now, XCOM out!