Chapter 26: Operation The Less You Know

ADVENT Administrator Ivan Fedorovich stepped off the idling dropship. He hadn't slept a wink on his way here from the settlement. Clearly ADVENT transports were not built with passenger comfort in mind.

Arriving in this nowhere backwater in the middle of a desert wasteland in the former Mexico it became wholly apparent why the administration had chosen this site for the facility. In addition to having no one around to overlook their work the land was almost certainly cheap, if the administration even paid for such things nowadays.

One would think that working an office job for the administration which spanned the entire Earth would be ideal. Turns out it was a massive pain. Case in point, dealing with the fallout of attacks by resistance cells. These groups, while previously scattered and unorganised, had suddenly become bolder and more co-ordinated. It was no coincidence that rumours and reports across the globe of scheduled maintenance, facility upgrades and organisation restructures were an almost daily occurrence.

That was why he had been sent here, to piece together anything he could and recover any actionable intel from the smoking ruin of a former ADVENT facility. His first job was to lead the search for any materials worth saving and any evidence worth analysing. All of that was to be catalogued and sent back to the settlement. Everything else was immediately routed to the nearest disposal site.

He'd read the briefing. What little security camera footage that had been retrieved showed a unit of about six people tearing through the facility before evacuating by air. Evidence suggested they used an explosive charge to destroy the remainder of the facility, the same method of operation which had been appearing more and more frequently across the world in recent months.

The truth was that the retrieval operation felt like a worthless enterprise in of itself. It seemed the sole objective was to create paperwork which would inevitably end up in someone's shredder. Looking at the wreck of the facility Ivan had to wonder what it must be like for those who worked in these facilities who were away during the attack. It must be unsettling to arrive to find your workplace no longer existed. For the time though he was content to leave their fate in the hands of the other administrators.

Ivan reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a cigarette. Even if ADVENT medicine hadn't made cancer and respiratory disease a distant memory he probably would still smoke, if only to give him something to focus on. This provided a ready distraction from staring at the ADVENT guards who were his constant shadow whenever he was working away from the office.

He was never sure if it was the same soldiers each time. They never spoke except to their direct commander, preventing him from ever striking up a conversation to find out. Ivan tapped the end of the cigarette to ignite it, taking a deep drag as he surveyed the task in front of him. In the history of his job he'd never met anyone who had ever uncovered anything of significant value. Judging by the condition of the remains it seemed today would not be any different.

He began as he usually did, a slow walk around the perimeter of the facility, navigating the dust caked land strewn with debris. There was always a risk of unexploded ordnance or deliberate traps left in the wake of an attack. It always paid to be cautious.

In amongst the rubble was something out of place, something which lacked the scarring and scorch marks which marred the rest of the debris. The item was a propaganda poster left behind by the perpetrators, XCOM. The poster was strewn with the faces of those matching the recovered security footage, imploring humanity to rise up against the aliens. Those individuals were already well known to ADVENT, their faces plastered across criminal posters in every city centre in the world.

An ADVENT trooper called out, rousing Fedorovich from his thoughts. Looking over Fedorovich could see the ADVENT troopers motioning towards a pile of rubble on the far side of the facility. The debris began to shift, two individuals rising out from amongst the rubble hefting heavy satchels. Their clothes were well worn, and their faces concealed behind cloth masks.

One of the scavengers called out to the other to run. The leading trooper yelled in his alien tongue. The scavengers made a break to run. The troopers didn't give a second warning, raising their weapons they began to fire indiscriminately towards the fleeing humans.

The scavengers drew pistols from their belts, firing wildly back at the troopers as they tried to make good their escape. Fedorovich threw himself to the ground, grasping his hands over his head as gunfire exchanged with laser blasts. Fedorovich held himself there for what felt like an eternity, the sounds of battle growing ever more distant. The battling finally ceased.

Fedorovich dared to look up. He could make out the silhouette of the troopers in the distance, wrestling one of the scavengers to the ground. He couldn't see the other one anymore. Fedorovich pulled himself back to his feet, brushing himself off to remove the thick layer of dust and dirt. Fedorovich despaired at the thought of the expense paperwork for the dry-cleaning.

The ADVENT troopers secured their hold over the struggling attacker, pulling the man to his feet despite his wavering protests. The troopers dragged the man across the ground back towards the waiting transport. Fedorovich was certain the fate which awaited this man would not be fortunate.

Deciding to indulge his moment of curiosity Fedorovich stepped forward in search of the man's missing accomplice. He found the man laid out on the ground, the fresh scorch marks across his back the mark of the ADVENT troopers' rifle.

Finding the mans satchel laid out beside him Fedorovich crouched down and began searching through the contents of the bag. In amongst the scraps of alien metal and half spent power cores was an ADVENT datapad.

Seemingly unsecured the users last access continued to scroll past on the screen. The data, while completely incomprehensible to him, seemed to be related to some kind of research into genetics. Accompanying the exhaustive list repeated the same phrase in alien script, AVATAR Project.

Fedorovich had heard rumours of such a project but had never met anyone who knew first hand of its existence. With the information he held in his hand it was fast becoming abundantly clear why that was the case.

Desperate to keep the panic from his features he allowed the datapad to slip from his fingers, landing on the dirt beside the corpse. With one sharp press of his shoe the delicate electronics shattered beneath his weight.

Fedorovich calmly smoothed out the lingering creases of his uniform. He reached into his jacket pocket for a fresh cigarette. Igniting it he took a slow drag as he resumed his search through the remains of the facility. He could only hope that the rest of his search proved just as uneventful.

ADVENT Rule 9465: The ADVENT administration confirm that no current or previous project has been undertaken with the codename 'AVATAR'. All ADVENT personnel are required to immediately report any references to such a project to the ADVENT Security Bureau.