ADVENT: History
Operation Deus Vult
"Winning the Middle East was easy. The hard part is changing it."
- ADVENT Military Commander Laura Christiaens
ADVENT Military After-Action Report 9922
Operation: Deus Vult
Author: Laura Christiaens
Recipient: Chancellor Saudia Vyandar
Chancellor,
It is my pleasure to officially confirm that Operation Deus Vult was an unprecedented military success on all levels. Never in my life has an operation gone as smoothly as this one, and combined with the sheer scale of this operation, it is nothing short of a miracle that it succeeded as highly as it did. With that in mind, I will summarize the results of the operation:
Pakistan: As had been planned out ahead of time, Pakistan posed the largest direct threat to ADVENT due to their nuclear arsenal, and thus the rest of this operation hinged on the success of Patricia Trask, who would utilize her telepathic psionic abilities to subdue the leadership before an alarm could be raised. She succeeded far beyond expectations, and managed to force the soldiers guarding the Pakistani legislature to execute them, before turning them against each other.
Once she extracted the Prime Minister, she utilized her psionics to learn the locations of the nuclear arsenal and the codes he knew. She turned this knowledge over to ADVENT Military and Shieldbearer teams before being transported to the Pakistani military command, which was not yet aware of the breach. Shortly after teams were in position, Patricia executed the Prime Minister.
She proceeded to turn the entirety of the Pakistani military in that location against each other, and forced the Pakistani military command staff to do the same, though not before confirming the locations and codes regarding their nuclear arsenal. Once that was done, she was extracted via an XCOM skyranger.
Phase II of this operation consisted of hitting the locations of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, of which there were five, all in isolated locations and were caught completely off-guard by ADVENT Military, Shieldbearer and Lancer teams. XCOM also assisted in several of the attacks, and within one hour the entirety of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was secured, and is currently being dismantled or incorporated into our own systems.
Throughout this, we discovered that Pakistan had not one, but two nuclear submarines. Thanks to the nuclear football and codes Patricia extracted from the minds of the Prime Minister and his military staff, we were able to send out specific codes ordering it to a specific location and to surface, presumably to attack. The moment they surfaced, Indian naval forces attacked, and sank the submarines, ensuring their destruction.
In the aftermath, the Indian government has moved their military into the cities and is currently maintaining order as they are finalizing negotiations concerning them joining ADVENT. The Indian military is currently dealing with the few insurgents that remain, and was an invaluable ally throughout this process, proving that their membership into ADVENT is well-earned.
Afghanistan: The region itself was highly unstable, and thus barely had a functioning government, let alone military, and certainly not one that posed a threat to our soldiers. XCOM assisted in removing the government with an entire squad, in addition to a Lancer team of our own, and together they easily took the Afghan capital.
The capital was taken with no casualties, and a grand total of thirty soldiers, of which broke down to twenty-two Lancers and eight XCOM soldiers. They were greatly assisted by the XCOM Psion Fatima Tariq, who debilitated a large part of the defending soldiers with telepathic attacks. We successfully confirmed that the entirety of the government was executed, including the President and the legislature.
The second part of the mission was the execution of their military command, and Weekes asked if this could be used as a training exercise for his Lancers, and we complied as the threat the Afghans posed was minimal. Nonetheless, it is still slightly surprising to know that a team of twenty Lancers managed to wipe out both the strongest concentration of Afghan soldiers, and their military commanders.
Turkmenistan: Much of the work done in taking control of Turkmenistan was at the hands of the Russian Legion, in conjunction with local forces from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, largely from the latter. The Russian Legion attacked from the west and Kazakhstan attacked from the northeast. Together they took the country and executed the military and government in a matter of hours. As of right now, the capital is being held with Kazakhstan soldiers, who are working with ADVENT Peacekeepers to keep order.
With the country subdued, I have immediately decided to relocate the Russian Legion that was currently devoted to this conflict to directly participate in the war. However, due to the upcoming operation concerning Canada, the Russian Legion will likely fill the role for annexing the nation and they are currently preparing for that operation. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are in the process of joining ADVENT, and I believe it will only be a matter of weeks before they are fully integrated.
Saudi Arabia: This mission was personally planned and led by the Commander of XCOM, and utilized an entire Garrison of the Israeli Legion which he used to take Riyadh, the capital, and execute the Royal Family and King of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi army was woefully unprepared to handle the ADVENT Military, and they were easily dismantled by the soldiers. We can confirm that the King of Saudi Arabia, and the majority of the Royal Family, is dead.
Before the battle, there was an unexpected defection of one of the Royal Family to ADVENT, and he is currently residing in ADVENT custody. According to the Commander, his main motivations seem to be not dying, and holding a position of power with the Royal Family dead. Also according to him, his intentions don't seem to be malicious, but he cautions using him without knowing his full capabilities. Nonetheless, a prominent member of the Royal Family surviving will be useful in ensuring our control of the country with minimal violence.
Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates: As many of these operations have identical results, and in the cases of Yemen and Oman, were severely weakened by the Israeli Legion beforehand, I have condensed them into this one section. Quite simply, they were taken with very little issue or bloodshed. Qatar and Bahrain surrendered the instant ADVENT soldiers reached the capital and with the exception of the leadership, the defectors were spared. The armies of Yemen and Oman also turned against their government, and helped us remove them from power.
Portland: The retaliatory strike against the aliens besieging Portland, while posing a much clearer threat to our soldiers, was also a complete success. The first conflict utilizing the Mechanized Defense Units solidified their role as a valuable weapon in our arsenal, and it was abundantly clear that the alien forces were not expecting an attack on such a scale, let alone one with XCOM support.
We were unable to kill the commanding Sargon, and as he was never seen in the battle, it is entirely possible he was not there to begin with. XCOM once more provided assistance that definitively shifted the battle in our favor, once more their Psions and MEC soldiers provided us the edge needed against the alien forces, and as a result, reliable supply lines are being established to prevent a similar situation from happening so easily again.
However, if the Battlemaster appears again, it is unlikely to be held.
Nakashibetsu: I have to commend Dr. Mercado on his insistence on continuing the Purifier Project, despite my objections that it was a potential waste of resources. Seeing the footage and reading the reports from the battle, I can happily say I was wrong and the Purifiers not only ensured our victory, but turned it into a rout.
By the end of the battle, the aliens were running away, even as the MDUs pursued them in the city, which had been poisoned with a clever tactic using the Purifiers and water. While the damage to the city was extensive to put it mildly, and we are still unable to enter the area safely, we have recovered a wealth of alien resources including two Gateways which are being transported to Dr. Mercado at this moment.
However, it would be remiss of me to once more point out how this victory was also largely due to XCOM providing psionic support, in the form of them shielding the Purifiers from danger until they got into range of the aliens. I would expect that both these attacks have given the aliens much to think about, and as successful as this entire operation was, we must begin preparing for retaliation immediately, as the aliens will not take these losses lightly.
Chancellor,
While I'm as happy and relieved as you are regarding the complete success of the operation, it has highlighted something for me that has been conveniently overlooked for quite some time. However, given that I can personally attribute our victories much to the usage of psionics, I think it is now time to raise the subject of just how dangerous they really are.
To be honest, I did not give much thought to the Commander mentioning that his Manchurian Program was being put on hold, as it clearly was not an easy decision for him, and he was correct that there are much larger concerns to deal with. However, in retrospect, I am wondering if he may have been too hasty in dismissing the applications of the project.
Simply put, Chancellor, psions are too dangerous to be utilized without controls. Bombs aren't enough. Ethically questionable as the Manchurian Program is, the fact is that after this display, it is necessary. The PRIEST Program is going to eventually produce similar psions, but on a scale of hundreds, not tens, and as we have seen, it only takes one to collapse a country.
I must reiterate that the demonstration of Patricia Trask, while completely effective, is the perfect example of the threat posed by psionics. She destroyed not only a government, but a military in roughly four hours. Four hours. A country which, I should remind you, was a nuclear power. Granted, she had help, but I am confident that she could have completed the entire operation without any sort of assistance whatsoever.
Now imagine that being turned on us. We have no defense against such an attack, and the moment another psion decided to do it, we would be helpless to stop them. As it has been shown time and time again, the only ones who can resist psions are other psions. We are vulnerable. From talking with both the Commander, Trask, and other XCOM soldiers, she has quite freely admitted that it is fully possible for a person to be taken control of without their knowledge.
Bombs simply aren't going to cut it. They will only work if we have clear knowledge of which psion is actually attacking. That just doesn't work with psions, or telepaths specifically. They don't have to be in the same location, let alone be seen at all, to kill or destroy anything. The Manchurian Program is the only means of reliably preventing rogue psions, and that the Commander has apparently ceased work on it for the moment is a mistake in my view.
I would strongly suggest that you speak with the Commander and urge him to resume research, or at the very minimum, turn the current research and testing over to Dr. Tygan and Dr. Munju. I would also highly recommend that we begin research into the negation or blocking of psionic abilities, as this will have more immediate practical utilizations against aliens like Ethereals and Sectoids.
Make no mistake, Chancellor, this is a very clear and present threat we are dealing with. Considering what we know of the Human race, there will be some who misuse psionics, no matter how strict our screening. Remember that it only takes one to bring even the most powerful government down.
I do not want it to be us.
- Helion Weekes
ADVENT Analysis Report 9912
Subject: Purifier After-effects on Nakashibetsu
Author: Environment Analyst Jacklyn Gouss
While I believe that the Purifiers were an unmitigated success against the alien forces, it should be acknowledged that their usage and tactics employed has had a potential effect not just on the environment, but also in our ability to actually take the city.
As of the writing of this report, ADVENT forces are still unable to enter Nakashibetsu due to a toxic cloud that hangs over the city. It is expected to fully dissipate within the next twenty-four hours, but until then, only MDUs can sweep the city without fear of sustaining permanent damage. What I can say for certain is that there are approximately zero alien forces still alive in the city.
The alien corpses recovered show just how badly the toxins affect them. The toxins completely decimate and melt the skin of Mutons and Vitakara of all identified races, which appears to have a similar effect as acid. The deaths appear to not be from the pain however, but from the gradual degradation of lungs and organs from inhailing the toxin. The time it appears to have taken to die varies from a full day to several hours. It appears to depend on how much toxin they were exposed to, as high doses killed much quicker than mild exposure.
However, all cases were fatal, which is why there is still a minimum safe distance established for ADVENT forces.
It is important to realize that this was the result of CIF3 that the Purifiers used, in combination with water. A side effect of the combination of both elements is not just a violent explosion, but the creation of several toxins, all fatal, which are then released into the air, creating a milky white cloud. The high amounts of both CIF3 and water used by the Purifiers were extremely effective, but also had the effect of turning the city into an uninhabitable zone for several days.
The CIF3 fires have fortunately burned out at this time, and managed to spread through much of the city, melting everything in their path. There are a lot of collapsing and half-destroyed buildings according to images and footage gathered from MDU scouts. We also managed to identify at least two Gateways that were undamaged by any of the fires, and do not appear to have been sabotaged.
That strikes me personally as suspicious, as I would have guessed the aliens would have some means of preventing the capture of Gateways, but perhaps that was something they had no need to worry about, and the aliens still alive were either dead or fleeing through it. I should note that we did find a large number of Andromedon corpses, but every single one had died to CIF3 exposure. From what we can tell, none of them were killed by the toxic gasses, which means that either all the Andromedons were killed, fled, or are still hiding in the city since they appear to be immune to the toxin.
We will need to fully sweep the city to fully ensure it is secure, but I highly doubt there are large numbers of Andromedons remaining, if any at all.
Battlemaster,
While our bases in Japan and near Portland have come under surprise attacks with ADVENT utilizing new units against us, the more important component of these attacks has been their victory in the war that has simply been referred to as the "Middle East Conflict". This is significant for several reasons I will detail below:
ADVENT was supposed to be fighting this war for months, if not years: This is not the first time there has been conflict in the region. The last five to ten decades of Human history show that the region grew increasingly violent, which largely had to do with religious elements and racial divides. It is a highly complicated situation, with multiple factions, ideologies, and even sects within religions themselves, who all happen to absolutely hate each other.
To date, there has only been a couple times they have been truly "united" if you wish to use that term. The first was during the Human period of the Ottoman Empire, which was largely peaceful until it eventually collapsed. The other time was during the War on Terror, where most of the Middle East was united under a Caliphate, which from what I learned, is a religious government specific to the religion of Islam. They were destroyed, of course, both by the Commander and when the various superpowers decided to intervene, and as a result, the Middle East never fully recovered, but it left them with a lot of resentment towards the western nations, and had effectively ensured that they would never be a relevant power on the world stage.
Terrorism was a major problem in the region, and the main reason why ADVENT was, in all likelihood, going to have to devote months to capturing these nations methodically and safely. Initially, that appeared to be the case, with ADVENT taking a slow and steady approach and taking countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran city by city, town by town.
However, even that was far faster than projected. The main reason for this is that ADVENT completely outclasses every Middle Eastern country technologically significantly. Most nations are using weaponry decades out of date, if not more, which essentially means that ADVENT destroyed their militaries with laughable ease.
It seemed that ADVENT had grown tired of the war though, and decided to completely eliminate the leadership of these countries brutally and quickly. This operation accomplished exactly that. ADVENT effectively removed all semblance of leadership or government except their own, and with that, they essentially won the war.
ADVENT's global and military power has expanded significantly: ADVENT has gained a significant amount of territory from its conquests. It is not just the Middle East they have captured, but they have also expanded their member nations by three: India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The latter two are not nearly as important as India.
India is one of the most resourceful and large (In terms of population) countries on Earth, and they have been rapidly modernizing and improving their country over the past decade, which is now starting to bear fruit. ADVENT has essentially gained an industrial powerhouse, and millions of potential soldiers.
You should know that India alone has a population of just over one billion. If even a quarter of them are recruited, and chances are they will at least achieve that, then ADVENT's army has suddenly grown much larger, and you can be certain that the remaining people will be put to other wartime uses. It doesn't hurt that India has a…contentious…relationship with China, which is likely to be the last remaining superpower to join ADVENT.
After this operation, which also subdued a nuclear country, I suspect China will be treating ADVENT far more delicately than before, and might even consider opening negotiations.
This is not counting the resources, soldiers, and territory gained from conquering the Middle East. ADVENT is likely going to spend quite a bit of time renovating and modernizing the region before they truly enter the war proper, but they are certainly going to be harvesting the natural resources, and recruiting from some of the more amenable population.
Such an amenable population is probably going to come from a Human ethnic group known as the Kurds. They have typically been a pro-western force, and Zararch agents have confirmed that the Kurds have been connected to ADVENT Intelligence and military proper. They will likely become a prominent political force as the region continues renovation.
I should also state that with this victory, ADVENT now has direct control of the majority of the world, which includes portions of Europe, the majority of Asia, the majority of North America, roughly a third of South America and none in Africa and Australia. We estimate that more European countries will join ADVENT, and the entire continent will eventually follow suit. If Canada continues to antagonize ADVENT, and we continue to ignore them or reach out, then ADVENT will likely annex them or worse, giving them control of the entirety of North America.
Fortunately, there is some good news. South America will likely not change unless the other nations deliberately antagonize them, although with that unstable Human in charge of Brazil, that might not be as certain. ADVENT appears to have absolutely no interest in Africa, and every nation in Africa is clearly trying everything possible to not attract their attention.
China is truly the last remaining force in Asia, and even I am not certain how long that will last. ADVENT can beat China and they know it. How China will respond, however, I can only speculate. Right now they seem content to focus on their war against us internally, and I am afraid they will not work with us against ADVENT.
That being said, China knows ADVENT won't attack unless provoked. So they are doing everything they can not to provoke them.
XCOM is directly interfering in non-alien affairs: This was unexpected. Based on all our previous psychological reports of the Commander, as well as his own words, he wanted XCOM to be a purely apolitical force, and have ADVENT handle domestic disputes and non-alien wars.
That has clearly changed.
I will highlight the probable reasons momentarily, but this fundamentally changes the dynamic between ADVENT and non-ADVENT nations. If XCOM assisted ADVENT here, they will do so again. That means that if ADVENT moves on China, XCOM is going to help. If they annex Canada, XCOM is going to help.
Based on intercepted reports, the sole reason ADVENT was able to neutralize the nuclear power Pakistan was because of Patricia Trask. No nation has any counter to psionics, and we can no longer rely on XCOM staying out of conflicts. If they feel ADVENT is wasting too many resources on internal disputes, they will solve the problem themselves.
We need to consider direct intervention at this point, otherwise our war will be far harder. A world that consists only of ADVENT and us is not one we can win easily, unless more Ethereals decide to join the conflict.
What is more concerning, in addition to XCOM intervening, is that they appear to be sharing their technological advancements with ADVENT where previously they seemed content to hold an advantage over them. This no doubt includes whatever Aegis has provided them, and I do not have to state how bad it would be if ADVENT suddenly starts utilizing Sovereign-level technology.
So, what is the reason for this? I believe it is simple:
ADVENT and XCOM are scared: While your recent victories have certainly sent a message, I cannot help but wonder if you have been a little too effective in your efforts against ADVENT and XCOM. Simply put, they seem spooked and seem to be legitimately confronting the possibility that they could lose.
This has several major implications: First, that relations between XCOM and Aegis might be strained, as it would imply that Aegis is not assisting as much as he could, or more likely, what the Commander would like. Thus, they might feel the need to take matters into their own hands.
This would also account for the sudden increase in sharing information and advancements between ADVENT and XCOM. It is entirely possible that XCOM no longer cares if ADVENT has equal technical prowess with them, as it wouldn't matter if they ultimately lose. This is bad for us, because XCOM has always been technologically superior to ADVENT, but they were always on a smaller scale.
ADVENT is large enough where major advances will pose asignificant threat to us. Schematics, Gateways, weapons, and systems from XCOM we can deal with if they are given to ADVENT, and they have apparently already manifested in these MDUs and potentially the Purifier units. The problem is if XCOM is sharing either their secrets of Genetic Modification or worse, Psionics. Some XCOM soldiers are practically invincible thanks to genetic modification, and we are acutely aware of the damage even one psion can cause.
An entire army of psions would be a chance we cannot take, and I am concerned we might have scared them enough to actually push them in that direction. This is information we need to quickly ascertain before we make future plans.
To return to what this has to do with the Middle Eastern Conflict, it is quite clear this fear is what prompted ADVENT to flat out end it as brutally and violently as possible. It is also likely a good indication on what ADVENT will do to other human threats. The alien threat is the priority, and any other problem that can be easily crushed, will be crushed.
Again, this is bad for us if we do nothing. I am aware the Imperator has plans for Earth, but if we continue doing nothing it is going to end with ADVENT controlling everything, and our job is unnecessarily harder. There are places of interest we can infiltrate and exploit, which are in separate documents, but the underlying point is that we can no longer assume we are going to win this war if we continue to do nothing.
You may be invincible, Battlemaster, but if XCOM continues unabated, they will create someone just as strong as you.
Keep this in mind when formulating your response.
- Zar'Chon'ravarian'vitiary