ADVENT: History
The First Battle of the United States of America
"God may be dead, but demons still roam this world."
- Anonymous ADVENT Soldier
After-Action Report
Operation: Judgement Day
Personnel:
Tiger 1 (Squad Overseer): Psion Patricia Trask
Status: Active
Kills: 13
Tiger 2: Specialist Anius Creed
Status: Active
Kills: 24
Tiger 3: Specialist Mordecai Korhn
Status: Deceased
Kills: 49
Tiger 4: Specialist Kim Yi
Status: Deceased
Kills: 18
Tiger 5: Specialist Joseph Vondoltoran
Status: Active
Kills: 2
Tiger 6: Specialist Liliyane Stark
Status: Active
Kills: 4
Tiger 7: Specialist Rosario De Leon
Status: Wounded (Estimated 4 Days)
Kills: 14
Tiger 8: Specialist Iaroslav Kozlov
Status: Wounded (Estimated 3 Days)
Kills: 17
Tiger 9: MEC Soldier Sung Cho
Status: Online
Kills: 44
Ranger 1 (Squad Overseer): Specialist Zara Venator
Status: Active
Kills: 31
Ranger 2: Specialist Sierra Morrow
Status: Active
Kills: 27
Ranger 3: Specialist Tamara Vasilisa
Status: Deceased
Kills: 16
Ranger 4: Psion Matthew Hawkins
Status: Active
Kills: 40
Ranger 5: Specialist Nati Avraham
Status: Deceased
Kills: 34
Ranger 6: Psion Karen Dais
Status: Active
Kills: 25
Ranger 7: Specialist Charlie Jones
Status: Wounded (Estimated 6 Days)
Kills: 12
Ranger 8: Specialist Mark Castle
Status: Deceased
Kills: 2
Ranger 9: MEC Soldier Franklin West
Status: Online
Kills: 78
Mariner 1 (Squad Overseer): Specialist Carmelita Alba
Status: Active
Kills: 72
Mariner 2: Specialist Lesedi Iminathi
Status: Wounded (Estimated 3 Days)
Kills: 20
Mariner 3: Specialist Chan Jin-Taek
Status: Wounded (Estimated 4 Days)
Kills: 28
Mariner 4: Specialist Oliver Ilari
Status: Active
Kills: 15
Mariner 5: Specialist Jesenia Santiago
Status: Deceased
Kills: 4
Mariner 6: Psion Nataliya Chaykovskaya
Status: Deceased
Kills: 17
Mariner 7: Specialist Catherine Gossenlin
Status: Active
Kills: 5
Mariner 8: Specialist Anna Pavlova
Status: Wounded (Estimated 6 Days)
Kills: 26
Mariner 9: MEC Soldier Amahle Mosa
Status: Offline
Kills: 57
Pilot 1: Jason Olgard – Call sign: "Big Sky"
Pilot 2: Patrick Nokia – Call sign: "Lightning Sky"
Pilot 3: Barney Kimon – Call sign: "Gray Sky"
Pilot 4: Riley Ignis – Call sign: "Burning Sky"
Artifacts Recovered:
Note: Numbers are subject to change as more corpses, artifacts and technology is recovered and negotiated over.
20x Mechanical wrecks
201x Assorted Alien Corpses (Exact counts still to be determined)
2x MELD Canisters
300+x Alien Weapon Fragments (Numbers may change)
151x Alien Alloys (Numbers may change)
COMBAT REPORT TO ETHEREAL COLLECTIVE COMMAND
GROUND COMMANDER: COLLECTIVE ANDROMEDON COMMANDER J'LORAN
DESIGNATED RECIPIENTS: THE BATTLEMASTER OF THE ETHEREAL COLLECTIVE; ZAR'CHON'RAVARIAN'VITIARY
MANUAL REPORT:
After overviewing our results, I can say that overall, the offensive was a success. XCOM and ADVENT were not fully prepared for simultaneous attacks in multiple coastal cities, and allowing the majority of our forces to deploy and secure land before engaging hostile forces reduced our casualties significantly. The tactics used in combating XCOM were largely successful, with the exception of Portland though we allowed room in our assault for a single retreat.
We continue holding ground in Seattle, pushing the ADVENT line back block by block. It will be a tedious process and we will undoubtably lose thousands of units before effectively securing the city, but we were not pushed back completely, and I can confirm that the countermeasures used against the Psion Patricia Trask were successful and negated her being a significant presence in the battle.
XCOM did contribute significantly however, and were instrumental in ensuring that ADVENT didn't lose the city, although with them now gone, the city will fall eventually. Several XCOM soldiers were taken out during the conflict. I estimate that XCOM will modify their tactics if they engage again. We may not see Patricia against Andromedon forces for some time until XCOM figures out what we did, and develops a way to counter it.
Los Angeles was taken successfully with Disciple-7 outflanking and baiting the ADVENT forces into traps and poor positioning. I was hesitant at the promotion of a Sargon to such a high level of responsibility, but he has proven himself in his handling of this attack. Despite taking significant casualties, the majority of them were Mutons and replaceable, and in return there were multiple XCOM operatives neutralized including a psion and MEC.
ADVENT nearly destroyed one of our Gateway Transports, but were forced to retreat before too much damage was inflicted. Time should have been taken to set up defenses before revealing the location, and we can no longer rely on that tactic working as ADVENT will now be aware and watching for it being implemented. Greater care should be taken before expending our most valuable units on potentially risky strategies.
Portland was a forced retreat, but I largely attribute that to the inability of the Vitakara to counter specialized XCOM forces such as psions and MECs. The limited Sectoid Leaders appears to help, but were ultimately too few to stop them completely. It reinforces my assertion that Irinena is not well-suited for large-scale tactics, and should stick to her specialty of managing strike forces. The Lurainian are also ill-suited for open combat and should be used to their maximum potential in special operations.
Nevertheless, Irinena was able to extract a high number of ADVENT casualties, and was able to preserve a large part of her fighting force. She is currently performing much better with keeping ADVENT pinned within the city and not allowing them to retake more ground west. She would be well-suited to managing stateside counter-operations.
San Francisco was a clear victory, and ADVENT and XCOM are now well aware of your capabilities, Battlemaster. I will not go into detail as you know the details of your attack intimately. Despite this being largely a success, there are several important notes we should take.
XCOM appears to have enhanced their genetically modified soldiers. I am unsure as to how, but they are reportedly far more resilient and mobile. Some were taking direct plasma shots with little effect and had little fear of harm. Disciple-7 reported that a number of his soldiers died to a toxin inserted by a stinger-like appendage attached to one of the XCOM soldiers. If they are beginning to extensively modify themselves to this degree, we should watch carefully.
This also confirms that XCOM has awakened new Psions, as the majority of the ones that appeared were not specified as such until they began fighting. And they appeared to have more training and control than they should have, which is likely the result of both Aegis' and Patricia's training. They should be made priority targets in each conflict going forth.
END REPORT
Run
That was my only thought as that "battle" progressed, if you could even call it that. Fuck it, no, it was a slaughter, there are no other ways you can describe what happened there. And yeah, I ran away before the official retreat was called. Is it cowardly? Maybe to anyone else, but it swear on my life it was a matter of survival.
Anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows I don't back down from a fight. I give it my all and usually come out on top. But I'm also not an idiot. I know when I'm outmatched and staying would be suicide. Is it cowardly to run if you know you'll die otherwise? Maybe, but I don't think so. There isn't anything valorous about staying to die. There's nothing heroic about going out in a blaze of glory and there's definitely nothing honorable about facing a literal demon alone.
ADVENT apparently doesn't hold my running away against me since I'm back with them, I'm not a deserter. But I'm never going to be able to forget what I saw there. At least I'm not the only one. So many of us are going to have PTSD from that battle alone. Just being there is hard enough.
I don't know what that…thing…was that we fought, but I'm not even sure it's mortal. Nothing could kill it. I saw rockets hit the damn thing and it just walked on. It stood against hundreds, no, thousands of gauss weapons and didn't even flinch. Tank rounds only seemed to amuse it and we might as well have been wearing paper for how much good it did us.
Who the fuck fights with a sword anyway?
That guy, apparently. I thought the XCOM MECs were intimidating, but it's nothing compared to a twelve-foot, four-armed, armored alien holding a greatsword coming at you. Sounds ridiculous, I know, and I'd be laughing if the whole thing wasn't actually happening. Didn't help that it seemed to teleport everywhere. One minute it was chopping up and entire squad, then a few seconds later it would vanish and appear by another squad. By the end I think it was getting bored, or just showing off. I heard from some of the other surviving soldiers.
He'd close a hand and heads would explode, he would pick soldiers up with his free hands, and teleport away one by one. He'd throw soldiers into helicopter blades and slam their heads on his crossguard. He was utterly brutal and terrifying and by the end they said he was covered in so much blood and gore he looked like something out of a slaughterhouse.
I really hope XCOM knows how to kill that thing, because I don't think that we can.
- Jack Carpenter, ADVENT Soldier
I'm not sure what will happen to us now. It's almost-no, it is a miracle that we're all still alive and unharmed. ADVENT was trying to evacuate everyone as best they could, but when the shooting started in the distance, they pretty much just told us to bar the doors and pray no one came through. Gave me a pistol, for whatever good it would do.
I didn't even know how to work one the things, so I just set it to the side away from the kids.
The kids were scared though, not the younger ones, thankfully. They knew something was wrong, but not exactly what and stuck close to their friends who actually tried to downplay what was going on. I've never been more proud of them than I was then, even though the older ones were terrified. They knew what was happening and were just hugging their brothers and sisters close and trying to keep them calm.
Some of the teenagers tried to arm themselves with baseball bats, pipes, in a futile effort to defend each other in case the fighting came to them. One asked for the gun and I refused. I knew he didn't know how to use it either, but it was a comfort to him for whatever reason. As it dragged on though, things were not sounding good.
Amy, Jason and I were exchanging worried glances as we heard shouting and screaming getting closer and we could only raise the TV volume so much before we began freaking the younger kids out. But then everything stopped and we wondered if we were safe.
We couldn't have been more wrong. I remember the alien charged through the door shattering it into wooden splinters. It was massive. It had four arms, some kind of armor and most terrifying of all, held a bloodstained sword of all things in one of its hands. It stared at me through its helmet and I was waiting for it to attack and kill me.
Amy shouted at the kids to run, but she suddenly grabbed her throat and passed out. I think the alien did something to her, but he just stood there, looking down at us and the terrified kids who were looking up at him waiting to die. I wanted to shout at them to run, I wanted to run, but I didn't and couldn't for whatever reason.
Maybe I realized it would be futile, or maybe it was something the alien did. But for whatever reason, he did nothing. He just looked at me and said something like "Keep the children here" in a booming and echoing voice that left no choice but obedience. I'm not sure I could have disobeyed if I tried. I just remember nodding and he turned around and…left.
I don't know why the alien spared us. But I am glad he didn't kill the children. Now we can only wait and hope that our fate won't be execution or worse. ADVENT must have lost, and we can only hope that the aliens are more merciful than we've seen.
- Charlie Anton, Director of the San Francisco Orphanage for Homeless Children