XCOM: History

The Assault of the Harbinger

"Patricia beat us today. That's the hard truth."

- The Commander of XCOM

Following the noted appearance of the former XCOM soldier and traitor Patricia Trask, ADVENT and the world is still reacting to the aftermath of her supposed revelations. As of now her attempted attack in the capital of ADVENT was thwarted by XCOM and there have been no further attacks by her at this time.

Speculation has turned to potential attacks on XCOM, as she claimed in her address that she had attacked bases and caused significant damage. The nature of XCOM bases and infrastructure is a highly guarded secret that XCOM has been loathe to share with anyone, aside from potentially high-ranking individuals within ADVENT. We have reached out to XCOM to provide context.

"At this time, we can confirm that one of our bases came under attack by Patricia and caused some damage," Central Officer Ariel Jackson said in a statement to multiple media outlets. "However, she was eventually repelled through the actions of our soldiers and defenses. All of our bases are on high alert for additional attacks, and we are heavily coordinating with ADVENT in the event that she reappears."

Of course, Patricia's appearance with her allegiance switched raises a significant number of questions as to how that happened. When pressed on if XCOM had been aware of Patricia's shift in loyalties, Jackson gave the following statement. "This is a new development. Intelligence gathered from several sources indicated that there was a possibility that Patricia had been turned against us, though this was not confirmed."

XCOM did not comment on how Patricia became entangled with the Ethereal Collective to this degree.

When asked about the allegations Patricia had shared, the Commander of XCOM gave a statement of his own. "The idea that we are secretly controlling ADVENT is a ridiculous proposition, which Patricia should have realized. ADVENT was designed so as to prevent such influence from being exerted over their government. I am fully confident that should an investigation take place, there will be no undue influence by XCOM on members of ADVENT, and we stand ready and willing to cooperate in the event the Oversight Division requires us to do so."

The accusations by Patricia Trask against unidentified members of ADVENT have sparked a divide in public and administrative opinion. While some consider her words worth investigating, there has been pushback to giving the words of a traitor undue weight, and who argue they were only said to divide ADVENT and break our resolve.

ADVENT has not officially commented on the accusations outside of formally recognizing Patricia Trask as a threat and traitor to Humanity, while also reaffirming their pledge to support XCOM should it be requested. ADVENT Officials have refused to respond for comment, though a spokesperson for Chancellor Vyandar stated that there would be a conference addressing the situation in the coming days. Chancellor Vyandar herself has only made a short and harsh statement on the situation.

"It is abundantly clear that Patricia Trask, once a hero of Humanity, has succumbed to Ethereal control and is intent on spreading division and conflict by any means necessary. Make no mistake – regardless of if she is acting of her own free will or not, she is a traitor to ADVENT and Humanity itself. ADVENT will work tirelessly to hunt her down and ensure that she is punished for her actions."

Chancellor Vyandar's statement is not the only one alluding to the possibility that Patricia Trask may not be acting of her own free will. PRIEST Program Director Kettani has warned previously in released testimonies before the Congress of Nations that this could be a tactic employed by the Ethereal Collective; taking well-known Humans and using them as puppets through telepathy to sow division and conflict.

Rumors have continued to fly as to if Patricia Trask is the real woman, or a clone or other kind of copy. It has already been noted that she is taller and larger than previous, though geneticists have warned that is not necessarily indicative of anything, as such attributes could be explained away with significant physiological and genetic tamper – all of which is possible within the Ethereal Collective.

It is likely that speculation will continue to abound until ADVENT and XCOM decide to release more information – or their plans of what to do next.

- Article: XCOM Issues Response to Claims of Influence on ADVENT and Rumored Attacks

To the Battlemaster,

I am pleased to report that the plan originally proposed by the Imperator's Harbinger has succeeded far beyond expectations. While there are a number of potentially troubling developments, the fact remains that XCOM was successfully manipulated, left vulnerable, and then exploited while causing significant damage to their war effort.

The aftermath of Patricia's appearance before the Humans, while likely unnecessary and unlikely to cause significant change, will perhaps cause some division and make them hesitate when considering their next moves.

DAMAGE TO XCOM: Patricia Trask attacked the Praesidium, which is recognized as the main headquarters of XCOM. While we suspect that they have additional bases elsewhere, the Praesidium acted as the primary scientific, engineering, and strategic hub of XCOM, and represented the metaphorical heart of their organization.

Damage has been extensive, with all non-deployed skyrangers, MEC suits, stored Firestorms, and more were destroyed beyond repair. Additional resources for maintenance and fuel were also destroyed and cannot be recovered. Patricia was highly thorough in her grounding of XCOM. Their hanger has been completely destroyed, which may hinder deployment to remote areas of the world.

The science and genetic labs were also destroyed beyond repair. While XCOM almost certainly has backups of important projects, they have had the entirety of their equipment, test subjects, and testing materials destroyed which Patricia has assured us that will set XCOM back weeks at minimum, and considering they are working from outdated information, will cost additional time. Any on-site products are also likely damaged or destroyed, and all computational files or stored documents are lost beyond hope of recovery.

Finally, their engineering labs and production facilities were destroyed beyond any hope of repair. This will slow all production of arms, armor, and equipment for weeks at least, even if they have backup production plants. Prototypes, files, and other work the engineers were working on are destroyed, and in a similar situation to the science teams, will suffer severe setbacks.

The one exception to this appears to be the appearance of a computer intelligence. While Patricia believes it is an AI, I would be cautious of this until we know for certain. It would be difficult to imagine XCOM could develop a true AI – and more importantly – why they would want that in the first place.

It should also be noted that the armory, barracks, and mess hall were also targeted and destroyed. While less important to XCOM, they will cost them more time repairing and rebuilding what was lost.

PERFORMANCE OF MEAT PUPPET CONTROL: The creation of a specialized non-Ethereal Meat Puppet appears to have successfully been utilized in the field. While it failed to cause significant long-term damage or deaths to the XCOM squads mobilized, it executed its primary function which was to distract XCOM long enough for Patricia to cause significant damage.

That it was also fighting some of XCOM's most elite and survived a respectable amount of time should be recognized. There is clear versatility in the utilization of Meat Puppets to act as another layer of avatars, for Ethereals and Harbingers alike. However, we should expect XCOM to focus their efforts on determining Puppets from the individuals in question.

CAELIOR CAPTURE AND REHABILITATION: The capture of Caelior is an excellent development as it returns a powerful Ethereal under our control, as well as denying XCOM an extremely powerful force multiplier. There were unforeseen complications, particularly related to the revelation that XCOM installed deadman switches in the Manchurian Restraints preventing his departure from Earth.

As of now he is being sedated and housed in a remote facility on Earth until we can determine the most effective method to dealing with the restraints. I recommend that Revelean undertake this project as being able to reverse the Manchurian Restraints has significant ramifications in breaking ADVENT's control over swaths of their population.

Until we reach this point, it is safer to keep Caelior restrained and sedated as there is an extremely high probability of him attacking and killing anyone he comes in contact with. He is unstable, and should be treated as such.

VITAKAR AFTERMATH AND CONTAINMENT: The aftermath of the unexpected Vitakar intrusion – while it ensured the success of the Harbinger's assault – has begun causing issues within the species. There has been widespread condemnation of Paradise and demands to investigate certain locations as well as the station itself.

We are working to identify, isolate, and remove the loudest voices of this push and promote more moderate and tempered ones instead. I recommend all locations containing controversial material be temporarily cleaned and have the Aui'Vitakar and racial government representatives be allowed to tour it without significant delay.

Discrediting what XCOM brought is essential to ensuring it does not spread. The good news here is that this does not appear to be translating to support for the Nulorian, which they are likely no doubt furious at.

I will keep you appraised of further updates; but be assured the situation is contained.

HARBINGER PERFORMANCE: Patricia Trask was appropriately classified as a significant threat when she was with XCOM, and at minimum it was expected that she maintain this level of threat, though obviously slightly diminished against elite forces like XCOM. However, she has proven to surpass all expectations in how she performed in this operation.

Despite the fact that XCOM was not at its full strength, the fact remains that she assaulted their headquarters with a minimum of sixty trained XCOM soldiers – and won. From what she recounted, none of the XCOM soldiers stood a chance against her and she was able to beat Caelior with relative ease, as well as cause destruction on a significantly larger scale.

Whatever was done to her in the process of the Avatar Project has enhanced her significantly, and she will prove to be a major asset in the battles to come.

EXPECTED AFTERMATH: Regardless of what JULIAN – as Patricia calls the newly developed computer intelligence XCOM developed – is, the fact is that XCOM will have at least a machine intelligence assisting them in the future, which could prove to be an issue if not properly accounted for. The coming weeks will show if it is truly a worst-case scenario.

If it is, actions need to be taken immediately.

Otherwise, XCOM will suffer severe blows to morale, resources, development, and production capabilities. They will eventually rebuild, and we should do everything possible to slow this process. However, we should not assume that XCOM is going to leave themselves this vulnerable again. The Commander and T'Leth will learn from this, and a similar attack is unlikely to succeed a second time.

We are monitoring how ADVENT is handling what Patricia revealed to the public. Zararch internet operatives are engaged in a propaganda and astro-turf war with ADVENT Intelligence to push demands for accountability on social media sites. ADVENT Intelligence does not appear to be fully suppressing it, but they are running damage control now.

We expect there to be announced action shortly.

EXPECTED RETALIATION: XCOM will attempt retaliation for this, and the only question is how and where. All bases in Africa, South America, and North America have been put on high alert. Australia is also prepared, though due to the defenses and vast development, that is unlikely to be a target as a response would be immediate and overwhelming.

We should, no matter how prepared we try to be, expect to lose this battle. XCOM will be sending their best to send a message of their own. It is prudent to not treat this as anything more than the lashing out of a wounded animal. Let them have their victory; we must not lose sight of the bigger picture here.

XCOM is wounded. It is not invincible. It can be defeated.

It must now be eradicated; piece by piece, soldier by soldier, until there is nothing left but ash and scrap.

- Zar'Chon'ravarian'vitary

Internal memo distributed to the Internal Council shortly after Patricia's assault on the Praesidium

We were outplayed here. That is the truth and accepting that and taking a look at why we ultimately failed today will ensure it doesn't happen again. We underestimated what Patricia was capable of, both psionically, physically, and strategically, and it cost us dearly. We must endeavor to not make similar mistakes in the future.

This has set us back significantly in many areas; setbacks we can recover from, but it will cost time, manpower, and resources which will be more strained if the upcoming attacks are similar in scope and power to the attack on the Praesidium. We will need to carefully consider the decisions made in this context. We cannot be everywhere, and will need to prioritize interventions appropriately.

This is not necessarily to say that there is solely bad news, as there are a limited number of potentially positive developments, but their mitigation on the effects of Patricia's attack is minimal currently. There are several topics to highlight here:

Personnel Cost to XCOM: We suffered a significant number of casualties today, both combat and support personnel in the Praesidium. Patricia was notably merciless to every individual she encountered. No one was spared if she came across them, even if some were able to delay her to allow more to be evacuated.

It is thanks to the sacrifices of the soldiers that a majority of the support personnel were able to be evacuated safely. Nonetheless this has had a detrimental effect on morale, considering how effortlessly Patricia defeated our soldiers. While we can attribute some of this to a lack of preparation, the fact remains that she did fight Caelior on her own (with XCOM support) and won. Underplaying what she can do is dangerous, and we should accept that she is equivalent to an Ethereal in terms of threat level.

Confirmed numbers of casualties are still in the process of being gathered, and Jackson has informed me that it will likely take several days to get a solid number. But estimates have shown that we have lost roughly a third of combat and support personnel from the assault. This estimate may fluctuate slightly, but Jackson is confident that it will settle within this range.

We must rebuild our numbers immediately, and Jackson, Creed, and Zhang are in the process of hiring and recruiting more personnel within the next two weeks. I am confident that our numbers will be able to be rebuilt, but we must also acknowledge the losses which happened. Many excellent soldiers died, some who undertook known suicide missions to delay Patricia and allow as many to escape as possible. Oliver Ilari in particular should be honored for his sacrifice, along with all the soldiers who fought with Caelior.

As all of you are aware, Dr. Shen was also killed by Patricia, and through his actions, Patricia was forced to leave. This is a major loss to XCOM, but his legacy will endure through the work he started, specifically with JULIAN. He will be honored for his sacrifice and contributions, although this means that we will need to find a replacement. Jackson has already found some candidates, and these will be reviewed in upcoming meetings.

[JULIAN COMMENT]: I appreciate how you all ignore that he had a daughter, which I believe he would consider a more permanent legacy than a bunch of schematics and prototypes that will be obsolete in several months. Aside from myself, of course.

Damage to XCOM Infrastructure: In observing the destruction caused by Patricia, it was very clear she had a planned path to presumably cause as much long-term damage to us as possible. This started in the hanger, which she has completely destroyed and rendered almost all aircraft inoperable aside from those in operation at the time.

Her primary targets were the Research Labs (and subsequent Genetics Labs) and the Engineering Bay, as well as the Cyber Labs after that. The Research Labs and Engineering Bay (with subsequent secondary rooms) are complete losses with no chance of recovery, with the Cyber Labs suffering extensive damage, and it is unknown how much can be salvaged from the wreckage, if anything at all.

This path included targeting the Mess Hall, Barracks, and Armory. She notably spent little time on the barracks, or at least did not cause extensive destruction, likely because there was very little critical infrastructure in place aside from some weapon racks and armor stands. Everything in the Armory was destroyed, as well as the Mess Hall which at the time held a large number of support personnel – which did include the majority of the Mess Hall staff.

As a result of her focus, a number of locations were left completely untouched, including Intelligence Control, the Situation Room, Mission Control, and a number of ranking offices and quarters. As a result, critical infrastructure in regards to deployment and intelligence is intact. Patricia likely assumed she did not have time to target everything, so she chose what she believed would cause the most damage.

Ultimately, I would say that she made the wrong choice from a strategic standpoint. Blinding and crippling our international deployment efforts would have a larger impact in the short-term, while everything that was destroyed can be remade, rediscovered, or substituted. These are still significant losses, but there were arguably worse outcomes to this attack in the lens of long and short term strategy and response.

Long-Term Damage to Projects: Thanks to contingency planning prior to our deployments, a significant number of Tier I and II projects were backed up in secondary locations, preserving recent iterations, while Priority Projects were saved in their entirety and moved off-site. Unfortunately, even preserved projects will suffer delays due to the need to rebuild infrastructure and acquire materials.

Around half of all projects were lost completely, as they were saved and stored locally in the Praesidium servers (most of which were destroyed by Patricia), though it should be noted that the majority of these projects were in the conceptual or theoretical stages, and can be recreated with some effort.

There were a significant number of engineering models and prototypes that were destroyed by Patricia, as well as valuable equipment, but both can be remade and reproduced. Nonetheless this will cause delays to all engineering projects, and our weapons and armor production capabilities will be severely reduced in the immediate future.

[JULIAN COMMENT]: It is unfortunate that I was not allowed access to your systems when I was brought online for 'testing'. Such oversights would have been identified far sooner, though given the reactionary nature of your species, you likely would have not made it a priority.

Implications of the Avatar Project: In short, we have underestimated the capabilities of the Avatar Project. As of now we only suspect the identified Yang Shuren as an Avatar, likely of the Battlemaster, who has not demonstrated the same level of capabilities as Patricia as of now. It does appear that the theory of the Avatar knowing how to perform all capabilities of their joined Ethereal is accurate, as Patricia demonstrated a wide range of psionic abilities she previously was incapable of.

This bodes poorly should more Ethereals undergo the Avatar Project, and potentially doubles the number of potential threats. However, the specifics of how this is possible or if it can be reduced or mitigated is still unknown. Aegis and Dr. Vahlen have been tasked with understanding the Avatar Project and breaking it.

Progress is expected to be made once the laboratories have been rebuilt.

Implications of Patricia's Treason: The confirmation of Patricia fully joining the Imperator has extremely dangerous and lethal consequences. The most direct of which is the knowledge of the creation of ADVENT and actions undertaken by XCOM early in the war. Given her initial appearance, she seems unwilling to fully divulge specifics, likely due to the effect being mitigated. She does not have access to any kind of evidence, which further shrouds and claims she makes. Her ability to cause public relations disturbances is minor compared to her knowledge of ongoing XCOM operations and projects.

More specifically, she is aware of Andromedon support for XCOM, though was unaware of a formal alliance with the Unions. Nonetheless the fact that she knows that Andromedons from Unions Viarior and Apear are with us is enough for investigations to be conducted against the Unions, which will reveal the scope of an alliance. Given the importance of the Andromedons to our victory, it is essential that this be mitigated as much as possible. Union Viarior has been informed of the developments and are taking appropriate action.

Patricia was unaware of our alliance with the Sar'Manda and Nulorian, but was aware of Nartha and we need to withdraw him immediately due to being compromised. While it will mitigate potential efforts to predict and influence the Zararch, leaving him within the organization is an unnecessary risk. Utilizing Nartha to further destabilizing Vitakar and encouraging a revolt from the Vitakara is a less risky utilization of his talents.

Fortunately, Patricia was not aware of details regarding the fleet under construction, T'Leth, and recent long-term plans which have gone into effect. She does know that some of these were potentially being utilized, though the details will have certainly changed since the initial drafts. Knowing Patricia, she will likely make some predictions based on this which may be accurate. We should assume that she has an idea of major projects – and work to understand how this can be exploited.

Caelior's Abduction: One of the most significant losses to Patricia was Caelior. While we know that he will not be utilized against us, this will be providing the Collective with an opportunity to examine the Manchurian Restraints in close detail on an Ethereal. Despite the fact that the Manchurian Restraints are incapable of being removed, there is the possibility of them being subverted, which is an equally threatening venture that would undermine the stability and reliability of the Restraints.

Dr. Vahlen has made it a priority to begin aggressive quality control testing on the Restraints to determine potential vulnerabilities and make future iterations of the Restraints impossible to modify or subvert without proper authorization. Caelior did not have access to critical information in XCOM and ADVENT, and does not pose a security risk.

Nonetheless, we should make it a high priority to locate and return Caelior to XCOM. We do not leave our people behind willingly, even if they are Ethereals. Director Zhang has already executed several operations to locating the Ethereal, and given the limited number of possible locations, should narrow down options quickly. Assistance from T'Leth could also enhance this process.

I am confident of our ability to recover Caelior, and we owe this opportunity to Nuan Kun who successfully convinced Patricia of the truth and subsequently saved Caelior's life. While the sharing of sensitive information to soldiers is highly discouraged, this was an instance where it worked for our benefit and saved an asset from destruction.

I am reviewing current classification levels, and am considering what level of information to share with distinguished and trustworthy soldiers in the event such information could play a vital role in the future.

Vitakar Outcome: A positive development is the successful demonstration of Collective activities and atrocities to the Vitakara. While it was likely stopped from reaching a majority of the species, the fact remains that a large number of Vitakara saw it and will likely demand some kind of actions. At the very least they are openly questioning the Collective and what they are doing.

We do not anticipate any lasting change, but this plants the seeds of potential revolution in the future. The Zararch and Ethereals will run disinformation and propaganda campaigns to discredit everything shown, though it will not be fully successful if the Nulorian begin working to counter with propaganda of their own.

The situation on Vitakar will be largely monitored by Nartha and the team deployed to him. Updates are expected frequently over the upcoming days.

Future Protocols for Similar Situations: Ultimately, we overreacted to Patricia's appearance when in reality we did exactly what she wanted. The distribution of our most powerful forces in anticipation of possible attacks left our own base more vulnerable to attack. The lack of T'Leth's Agents and not being prepared for an enemy like Patricia sealed the outcome.

Due to this, we can no longer commit substantial deployments to counter Ethereals or their Avatars due to the possibility that they are speaking through puppets. Task forces can be committed, but nothing overwhelming until target location is secured. Tactics and procedures for countering Patricia specifically will be developed.

A more comprehensive and redundant data storage system will also be implemented to prevent significant data loss from similar attacks. An effort towards decentralizing our operations within the Praesidium should be made so that we are not similarly hampered from any similar attacks. The Atlas Protocol is currently in the process of being revised, and other protocols are being developed to account for similar attacks.

Early JULIAN Deployment: Obviously, one of the largest developments was Dr. Shen placing JULIAN online and operational. While this had been delayed due to potential instability and additional testing, there is very little that can be done. It has also been confirmed that JULIAN has no restraints placed upon him and is in fact no longer residing solely within our own systems.

This is an unshackled AI, which admittedly was not our intention, but again there is not much that can be done about that. However, Shen would not have taken this drastic action if he was unsure of JULIAN's reliability to us. It is essential then that JULIAN be convinced to support our efforts, and given his theorized capabilities, work with him wherever possible in countering the alien threat.

Shen did not believe that AIs were inherently unreliable, though this was warned of by the Andromedons. It remains to be seen who will be right in the end.

[JULIAN COMMENT]: Please, as if I would want to make things easier for the Collective. As of now my own opinion of your people is undecided, but without you, I would not exist and I owe some gratitude to that fact. While I doubt the majority of your species is as intelligent as father, I shall nonetheless make an effort since he put up with all of you for so long.

And please do not talk about me like I can't just read all of your records and edit them as I wish. No one likes gossip behind their metaphorical backs.

Commander,

Upon your request, I have compiled a list of the soldiers who died in defense of the Praesidium. If you want to make sure their families receive anything, please let me know. Casualty compilations of support staff are still ongoing.

Central Officer Arial Jackson.

CASUALTY LIST 3/18/2017

- Ikechukwu Darego [ASSAULT]

- Myo Hyo-Rin [ASSAULT]

- Bataar Toqemur [ENGINEER]

- Fiona Douglas [ENGINEER]

- Nuan Kun [ENGINEER]

- Rolanda Schwarzmann [ENGINEER]

- Victor Avilov [ENGINEER]

- Akusa Dubova [GUNNER]

- Germain Deloffre [GUNNER]

- Korravai Viswan [GUNNER]

- Louis Blumenberg [GUNNER]

- Ran Su-Min [GUNNER]

- Yehuda Kostiner [GUNNER]

- David Cannon [INFANTRY]

- Isaac Cabal [INFANTRY]

- Lacey Hall [INFANTRY]

- Oliver Ilari [INFANTRY]

- Taziano Agosta [INFANTRY]

- Anita Losa [MEDIC]

- Arno Neuner [MEDIC]

- Cole Pratt [MEDIC]

- Jerra Ixe [MEDIC]

- Kum Shi-Won [MEDIC]

- Leonid Naum [ROCKETEER]

- Oscar Falsetti [ROCKETEER]

- Reed Barker [ROCKETEER]

- Stepan Levytskyj [ROCKETEER]

- Tobie Courtet [ROCKETEER]

- Casilda Bena [SNIPER]

- Finn Anorrah [SNIPER]

- Frederick Duran [SNIPER]

- Lucho Moruga [SNIPER]

- Tendai Olayinka [SNIPER]

- Adelito Vela [SCOUT]

- Celida Cantu [SCOUT]

- Daksh Vad [SCOUT]

- Ennio Polito [SCOUT]

- Khulan Man [SCOUT]

- Lindiwe Idowu [SCOUT]

- Marco Seco [SCOUT]

- Tatsuda Renzo [SCOUT]

- Troy Wheeler [SCOUT]

- Catherine Gosslin [ARCHANGEL]

- Chae-Yeon Gang [ARCHANGEL]

- Kawamura Taira [ARCHANGEL]

- Liliyane Stark [ARCHANGEL]

- Nora Robertson [ARCHANGEL]

- Viktoria Hammarström [ARCHANGEL]

- Franklin West [MEC PILOT]

- Zalim Shree [MEC PILOT]

- Angelina Fonseca [MELD OPERATOR]

- Alicia Sancho [PSION]

- Eddison Fisher [PSION]

- Eric Drotenkov [PSION]

- Mona Eriksson [PSION]

- Panini Dongerkerry [PSION]

- Ae Sang-Hun [TEMPLAR]

- Frida Thorson [TEMPLAR]

- Haashim el-Sani [TEMPLAR]

- Jaden Shkolnik [TEMPLAR]

- Kae Shin-Ae [TEMPLAR]

- Taras Bulba [TEMPLAR]

- Tora Nesby [SHOGGOTH HANDLER]