Update 22: PreparationsIn the days following the Cuba attack, Evening Star was abuzz with activity. We soldiers didn’t get to see much of it, but there was much effort being put in to conceal alien involvement in the attack. The ‘official’ cover story was that Cuban terrorists had somehow gotten hold of a nuclear weapon and nuked Havana. While this story caused much alarm in the international community, it would be worse if we told them that the aliens had a bioweapon with which to eliminate humanity.
The only interesting thing of note during the period from May 25 to 31 was the fact that the Mind Shield at Evening Star had completed construction and went operational. The Mind Shield rendered Evening Star almost invisible to the alien’s psionic sensors, which were used on the Abductor to detect areas of human habitation. As a bonus, it also protected Evening Star personnel against alien mind control, to prevent a repeat of the Sectoid Leader incident.X-COM SOLDIER BRIEFING (MAY)
CLEARANCE LEVEL: CAPTAINCOMMANDMay was an enlightening month for our science teams, despite the extreme loss of life in the attack on Havana. We now understand much of the operation behind the terror attack, and we know the organization of the alien forces. Much of this information came from interrogation of the captured Floater Leader abroad an Abductor on the 4th of May.
Firstly, the aliens started by abducting humans from remote places such as Iceland. The loss of three Abductors certainly set them back a fair amount, but by that time they had already abducted enough humans to carry out their plan.
The aliens obtained human genetic samples and knowledge of human anatomy within the Abductors. The genetic samples were then taken to an alien base for experimentation and development into a bioweapon.
The Alien base was created sometime around the end of March, when a swarm of UFOs descended upon Northeastern China and Korea. The base is not extensive, but it contains facilities for research and development. Within the base, Snakemen researchers used human subjects to test out their new bioweapon.
The end result is this – the Chryssalid bioweapon. With video recordings and a detailed autopsy of the alien, we can reconstruct how it would have acted when alive.
The Chryssalid visually ressembles an insect at first glance, but it is actually closer to a reptile than an insect. The creature’s carapace is thin but strong, giving it speed and durability. Although the Chryssalid’s legs appear weak, it can run at twice the speed of a human. The Chryssalid’s main weapon is its claws, which are strong enough to bend metal and sharp enough to tear its victim apart. The most interesting aspect of the Chryssalid though is its ability to reproduce quickly given a human host. The claws inject both a numbing poison and a Chryssalid egg upon contact with flesh. With seconds of implantation, the egg hatches into a Chryssalid larva, which then feeds on the victim’s flesh to grow. A Chryssalid is usually ready to burst forth within a minute, but they do not do so until they have finished consuming the host. Nevertheless, a Chryssalid can be prematurely hatched through weapons fire, as seen in the Havana mission.
There is strong evidence to suggest that the Chryssalid was genetically engineered as a terror weapon. Its high metabolism rate, combined with a vestigial digestive system, ensure that the Chryssalid would starve in a normal ecosystem. In addition, the Chryssalid egg only seems to react to human DNA, attempts to inject it into other animals proved futile.
What makes the attack interesting was the use of this creature specifically. In the Berlin attack, the Sectoids struck only a small, isolated suburb, inflicting a minimal amount of damage and efficiently killing citizens. In fact, most of the damage done was caused by stray X-COM weapons fire. With the Havana attack, the Chryssalids were designed for the sole purpose of wiping out an entire city with astonishing quickness – we estimate that 99% of the city’s population was killed by the time X-COM reached the site. This suggests a change in alien policy- where the Berlin attack was mainly a demonstration of their abilities, the Havana attack was an actual attack on humanity.
Since we do not have the time to research a counter to the Chryssalid bioweapon, we must strike at the source of the attack – the alien base itself.
X-COM agents have confirmed satellite and aerial reconnaissance images of the alien base entrance. The base is located on the western coast of the island of Sakhalin, remarkably near to the recovery site of the Supply Ship back in March. The base is not too large or heavily populated with aliens, so X-COM soldiers will storm in and attempt to take the base intact. If you fail, the Russian military has agreed to bomb the base to eliminate the possibility of further attacks.
Due to the recent loss of life in the Havana mission, soldiers from the China base of Morning Star will be transferred over to fill the gaps. Above is the roster for soldiers in Morning Star.
Also listed is the psionic training results for the remaining soldiers at Evening Star. We now have several more Psi-Amps to equip our troops with, so the new arrivals form Evening Star will not go without them.
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
We, the engineering team here at X-COM are proud to present our latest invention – the Hovertank. The Hovertank is a Heavy Weapons Platform reverse engineered and constructed from alien technology, mainly the Cyberdisc. The main weapon turret is a scaled-down version of the Plasma Beams currently in use on our aircraft. In addition, the inclusion of an antigravity engine has allowed the Hovertank to hover above the ground much like the aliens’ Cyberdiscs.
We have also reverse-engineered the aliens’ Heavy Plasma weapon. The Heavy Plasma is again a scaled-up version of the Plasma Rifle, but more energy-efficient. We have seen evidence that the aliens are equipping their troops with the Heavy Plasma as a standard weapon, and so future supplies of the weapon and ammunition can be captured from the aliens themselves.
The Stun Bomb and the corresponding Small Launcher are strange weapons. They were originally recovered abroad the Floater Abductors, possibly in use to incapacitate and capture humans. The Stun Bomb appears to function by creating an electromagnetic shockwave – on the same frequency as psionics – to temporarily render a target unconscious. The Stun Bomb’s main attraction is its ability to stun multiple targets from range, although its limited ammunition capacity restricts it from continuous use.
Finally, we are pleased to announce the development of a new interception craft. The XC-2 “Firestorm” is similar to the Lightning in looks, but the Firestorm is a much more capable interceptor. The Firestorm carries two weapons, and has speed to match almost all UFOs known so far, with armor to survive successive plasma hits. The downside is that the Firestorm has no troop transport capability, and also consumes Elerium at a faster rate than the Lightning.
The Firestorm is currently under construction at Morning Star, and will finish in five days. We expect to ship it to Evening Star and replace our Interceptor here within ten days. The newly constructed Firestorm will hopefully allow us to achieve air superiority over much of Europe and Africa.
TOP SECRET – CAPTAIN LEVEL CLEARANCE ONLY
Interrogation of the Floater Leader has pointed to the aliens having a base on Mars. However, most of the ‘lower’ ranks do not know the full extent and function of this base, only that the bases’ central command coordinates all alien operations on Earth remotely using psionics. The only rank privy to this information – alien Commanders – are said to reside in alien bases, such as the one in Sakhalin. Capture of a commander should be top priority in this mission – even extending to the sacrifice of X-COM troops.
Good luck in your battles, Soldier!
X-COM Commander,
Gen. Charles Brooke
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