Operation Blinding King. My first base assault.
Pylon died within the first three turns. He was overconfident from the successes of the last few missions and advanced too quickly without waiting for proper cover from the team's sniper duo, Myth and Orbital. The fool dashed right into a cyberdisc patrol and ate a salvo of plasma fire before anyone could react. While he bled out, Wolf Guy and Orbital took out the disc's drone escort and the squad's heavy, Overclock, used a well aimed rocket to take down the flying mechanical
asshole itself.
This was a bitter victory, though. As the sole Support class, Pylon was the only one with the skills and equipment to deal with critical injuries. There was little the team could do, so they took cover near Cpt. Gusev and stayed with him until his dying breath before pressing on. The SHIV was used to scout ahead and draw any potential fire. With only 4 squad members left the safety of the team was paramount. No more mistakes, no more deaths. Pylon's end may have dampened the squad's spirit but it also made them more alert, more cautious and a hell of a lot more determined. The goal of this assault was primarily to eliminate the alien commander. Of course no one knew what this commander looked like so the real mission was much simpler:
Kill. Everything.
2 chrysalids? Taken out while rushing the SHIV. Almost half a dozen drones? Surprisingly easy to handle without their cyberbuddies. The muton patrols deeper into the base? Between Wolf Guy's Rapid Fire/Run&Gun, Orbital's Double Tap and a well placed alien 'nade from Overclock they barely got a chance to sneeze. One green bastard managed to heavily damage the SHIV before being neutralized, but the whole point of the robot was to draw fire and keep the boys (and girl) safe.
The team progressed slowly, securing each section of the base before methodically moving on to the next until they finally reached what appeared to be the nexus of the facility. Imagine how anti-climatic it was to discover the commander was some sort of sectoid. The squad fought through chrysalids, mutons, drones and a cyberdisc all to get at a puny little alien with a tiny gun? Initially the team was going to take no risks, kill the alien leader on sight and bring it back dead. In light of the threat level, though, a last minute decision was made to attempt a live capture. As if to prove it was still a danger, the sectoid took out the SHIV with its pistol (though it was so heavily damaged it was almost nonoperational anyway). Myth and Orbit both hunkered down instead of taking killing shots while Overclock got into position to support Wolf Guy, the assault capture specialist.
What happened next was... unexpected.
The official story is that the cornered alien leader took a last desperate shot at the squad and managed to fatally wound Nobu 'Overclock' Nakagawa. He died before making it back to base, where he would be hailed as a hero along with Maxim 'Pylon' Gusev. What actually happened is a bit more confusing. Somehow the sectoid leader took control of Overclock's mind. Wolf Guy was close enough to terminate the sectoid but out of range to stun it. Everyone in the squad knew Overclock had one or two alien grenades left in his arsenal and it quickly became clear a choice had to be made: Kill Overclock first and capture the alien CO alive or immediately eliminate the alien leader and thus save Nobu's life.
Maybe, if Nakagawa was still lucid, he understood and appreciated the sacrifice he made for the greater good of the XCOM initiative and humanity as a whole. But I suspect his last few moments were filled with utter terror as he was being mind raped, and the last sight he saw before death was Orbital's rifle being leveled at his head.
Seconds after Overclock's death the alien commander was successfully stunned and secured. Even among those who had faith in the mission, no one believed the team would be able to actually capture the alien leader. Back at HQ, Operation Blinding King was being hailed as a massive victory and a turning point for the war effort. Among the three surviving Alpha Squad members the only real question was, "was it worth it?"
) that this happens anyway and you fail the mission? I am all up for challenges but this sounds cheap...
