Operation Silent Fear (Alien Abduction - Cairns, Australia)

Gentlesophs, I am your host, the Kid With A Pen, and welcome to XCOM:  War Interminable - my playthrough of XCOM:  Enemy Unknown, with the Enemy Within expansion, the Operation Slingshot DLC, and most importantly the Long War mod.  Links to all of these can be found on the "What is XCOM:  War Interminable?" page below this post.

The aliens have started abducting people at a dockyard in Cairns, Australia.  It's an abduction mission, like anything we've done a dozen times already.

First, I want to pause for a moment and enjoy the simple things in life, like how cool the Skyranger looks when it's coming in to land.

Enough of that nonsense - on to the mission!  Our team today is:

Our infantry and Patreon contributor Marshall "Banzai" Reeves

Our medic and squad leader, Scooby

Our other infantry, Plunder

Our engineer, Vita

Our scout, Roksana Forrughi

Our sniper, special contributor Brienne "Lady Grey" Frost

Our rocketeer, Prototype

And our Valkyrie, Bull

In the interest of full disclosure, let me just say right now that I hate this map.  I hate it with the fury of a nova, especially in Long War.  The reason why I hate this map is that it's dominated by one multi-level building with few ways up and not much cover along the flanks.  You're in for a messy close-quarters fight if you try to take the building, and the enemy almost certainly has at least one pod inside already.

Now, this wouldn't be so bad if you could start in a different location, and Long War does have randomized start zones.  Unfortunately, all of the other start zones on this map are bugged, in that if you bring an 8-man squad, one of them will spawn outside the map and be completely useless, forcing you to reload the mission until you get the one start zone that works properly.

Anyway, the squad advances, stacking on the right.  Plunder and Banzai cover the cargo door, while Lady Grey sprints for cover far away from potential contacts.  Prototype steadies aim, just in case we require his services.

The rest of the squad overwatches.

Next turn, the squad moves up to full cover behind the dockhouse.  Forrughi throws her battle scanner, but finds nothing perched on top of the fishing boat.

Bull uses One For All to extend the range of full cover offered to the squad.

Prototype moves up behind Bull and steadies aim.

The rest of the squad overwatches.

Banzai hears movement coming from our left.

Forrughi moves up and makes contact with a pod of Seekers inside the dockhouse.

Also, a Mechtoid pod with Drone support.

Forrughi holo-targets a Drone.

The infantry throw the cargo door open.  Plunder misses a Sectoid.

Banzai gets a hit on the Mechtoid, but it doesn't do much.

Lady Grey misses a Seeker.

Bull almost gets into position without triggering the Mechtoid's overwatch.  Almost.

Prototype drops a rocket on the Seekers.

Scooby heals Bull...

...and then misses a Seeker.

Vita pops a smoke grenade.  The rest of the squad overwatches.

The Sectoids retreat to safer ground aboard the other fishing boat.

However, not all of them make it.  Banzai and Plunder kill a Sectoid on overwatch.

One Drone repairs some of the damage a Seeker took from Prototype's rocket.

Another drone takes a potshot at Banzai and misses.

One Sectoid Mind Merges with another Sectoid.

The Merged Sectoid sneaks around and Mindfrays Banzai.

A Seeker moves up by the Mechtoid.

Another Seeker misses Scooby.

Banzai's not a fan of aliens messing around with his head.  He moves up and crits the Sectoid point-blank for the kill.

Prototype shreds the Mechtoid pod.

Plunder shoots down a Drone.

She then takes a well-deserved reload.

Vita kills a Seeker that got too close.

Lady Grey sprints to the other side of the dock to get eyes on the Mechtoid.

Bull puts a shot into the Mechtoid.

Scooby orders Bull to fire again, and the second shot comes within inches of a confirmed kill.

Forrughi moves into the dockhouse and overwatches.  The aliens move up to the dockhouse.

Banzai flanks a Sectoid for the kill.  Even mindfrayed, he's still a beast on the battlefield.

Plunder kills the last Sectoid.

Forrughi flanks the Mechtoid and kills it.

Bull reloads.

Prototype steadies aim.

Lady Grey moves up and steadies aim.

Scooby and Plunder advance into the dockhouse, and the squad overwatches.

Banzai reloads.

Prototype advances and steadies aim.

Forrughi moves up and steadies aim.

Lady Grey moves along the left flank and steadies aim.

The rest of the squad advances and overwatches.

Plunder hears movement coming from up ahead.

Bull moves up, and makes contact with a pod of four Thin Men.

Bull kills one of them outright.

Lady Grey hits a Thin Man from long range.

Prototype misses a Thin Man.

A Thin Man hits Bull.

Another advances.

Contact!  Two Mutons, three Berserkers!

Banzai kills a Muton on overwatch.

Banzai hits a Berserker on overwatch.

Vita moves onto the bridge of the fishing boat and grenades the Berserkers.

However, their roars startle her, and she hides behind her cover, hoping that the aliens don't see her.

Forrughi misses a flank shot on the wounded Thin Man.

Prototype uses his last rocket, out of desperation, on the Berserkers right in front of them.  Unfortunately, it deviates slightly and destroys Vita's cover.  It also makes the Berserkers angry.

Plunder gets a hit on one of the Berserkers.

However, at the worst possible moment, she also needs to reload.

Scooby hits a Berserker...

...setting Bull up for the kill.

For his next trick...

...Bull is going to get in a fistfight with another Berserker...

...and show it who's boss.

Anyone else?

Bull's rampage ends the turn.  A Berserker at nearly full health is still on the loose, Vita is still panicked and out of cover, and there are still three Thin Men and a Muton on the map.

One of the Thin Men takes a shot at Vita!  Could this mean a fatality on this mission?  Join us tomorrow for Operation Silent Fear, part two!  Remember, you too can join the fight by going to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=177434 and subscribe today!  Every subscriber gets to have a rookie named after them!

Can't subscribe to my Patreon campaign, but still want in on the program? Go here to see how you can get in: http://xcomwarinterminable.blogspot.com/p/join-fight.html  With that, I hope to see you next time!