XCOM 2 AAR - Train Robbery

Well, the area has certainly changed a lot since you were conscious. The new ADVENT architecture looks similar to what you had before, but oddly different. You don't like it. Either way, the plan is simple: get to the chest, open it, snag the goodies, and kill everyone. The troops guarding it are a pain, but we're also on a time limit. The chest is rigged to blow soon, and we need to get there in time. (8 turns, to be exact)

It's not a very long distance normally, but those troops between it'll be quite the trek. We setup for our ambush same as before. Sq. Health starts us off by dropping the officer with a shot to the head and Susanne guns the accompanying soldier down. Clean and simple.

ADVENT shows surprising efficiency by having a squad of soldiers set out immediately. We do know where they'll land, but three soldiers are still less than fun. We setup for overwatch again to be ready when they come down, but without seeing them beforehand, our aim will surely be much worse than it was when they were patrolling unawares.

Lovenought scores his first kill, while Susanne scores her second kill of the day. 2/2 so far. Health makes up for her lost shot by grenading the final soldier. She has quite the throwing arm.

We get our first look at a real alien. The ADVENT soldiers are genetically modified humans - they look odd, but they're still, technically, humans. These sectoids though look clearly alien, and are quite dangerous. Gaius grenades the guarding soldier, and Susanne uses her launcher on the sectoid, removing cover but failing to kill it. Those suckers are tough! Fleeing due to injuries, the sectoid runs off into the black, leaving us with our prize. Time is almost up!

Lovenought, being the eager one that he is, rushes up to the chest.

He hasn't paid much attention in hacking, but thankfully the chest is still set to the default settings and he gets in with no problem. Then things go wrong. Moving to the side of the train to sit and recover, he spots the last group of soldiers and the wounded sectoid.

Then we find out why the sectoids are so dangerous. Their gun is deadly, but their psionic powers are frightening. A quick blast towards Lovenought sends him fleeing forward in a panic and uselessly firing into the tree.

Thinking him more permanently indisposed, the troops fire at Susanne, wounding her deeply. She responds with a grenade. She is not someone to mess with. The silent Gaius, seeing Lovenought in trouble, rushes forward with her blade, killing the new sectoid in a single blow, but leaving her undefended and out of cover.

The sectoid shows its power over death by psionically resurrecting the dead soldier. Lovenought, overcoming his fear, shoots the sectoid in the head, ending both the alien and the zombie. Just goes to show, the aliens have quite a bit of power behind them. Immense power, and immense arrogance. We'll beat 'em yet.

Upon return, we get an ominous message from a mysterious figure: