The scientists studying ?Elerium? have finished their analysis. According to their conclusions, an element with this level of complexity in its structure should not be able to exist in this universe. The fact that the aliens can utilize a substance like this in a stable form is likely part of why their technology is so advanced; obtaining it will be crucial to our efforts to combat the invasion.
The scientists are put to other projects.
Another massive ship comes near our base and scouts around, leaving without finding us.
We spot something else concerning, though: a Snakeman ship intending to target a city.
The first interceptor sent at it runs out of missiles before taking it down.
The repaired and ready Interceptor-2 shoots the craft down over northern Europe.
We get geared up and ready for Operation Baltic Mongoose.
We are landed very close to the crash site.
Right off the bat we encounter something new. We can only assume these are the assault troops that the Snakemen use in terror operations. They don't appear to be armed, but given that the Floater's troops are capable of melee combat we can't be too cautious here.
After a few shots from Sharpe's auto-cannon, we see a second one.
Even a direct shot from an HE round isn't enough to kill one.
Crossett provides some supporting fire.
We get one of the two hostiles, and another one shows up to the so-called party.
We get Bailey up to the exit door because she can actually hit worth a damn. She gets the second of at least three.
The third seems to have run away for now. Please don't let there be any-
-more. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be able to climb up onto the ramp, if it even shows any interest in approaching. Unfortunately, it's out of our narrow field of fire.
The one were were trying to attack before comes back into sight, but combined fire from Bailey and Crossett isn't enough to take it down yet.
A Snakeman slithers past on the other side of our peripheral vision, while the other unknown alien runs around seemingly without purpose.
Stepping forward, Crossett exchanges some fire with the Snakeman, taking it out but incurring some wounds in the process.
Okabe gets a medikit out and patches Crossett up.
Another Snakeman comes into view from some hedges we've blasted a hole in. Our initial attempts to snipe it fail, but Crossett's rapid fire proves to be reliable.
We see another of those unknown hostiles in a field some distance away.
How many more of these are there?
Less composed tacticians would probably be reduced to frothing and spittle at this point. However, we are still mostly in control of the situation, although with all these enemies roaming around we're going to be on the defensive for a bit yet.
The initial plan of ?send someone a short ways down the ramp and shoot at them? doesn't work as well as anticipated, and we pull Crossett back.
Bailey doesn't do much better.
Another Snakeman decides it wants to get involved in this battle, while the other hostiles continue attempting to threaten our advance.
Bailey gets rid of the first problem, although the second's going to take some work.
Eventually we get impatient with their wandering around and start resorting to the next plan: explosives. We throw a proximity mine near the bottom of the ramp where the aliens are wandering.
We then follow up by tossing some high explosives off the side.
The one wandering around near the field eventually has enough of being shot at and finally falls.
The explosives go off, and we hear some alien screaming, which means it probably worked.
A Snakeman apparently wasn't the one screaming, so Crossett has to go deal with some more nonsense. He's doing fairly well for a rookie with no prior combat experience.
It's finally clear for us to get out of the Skyranger and onto the ground.
Bailey takes a position near one of the doors to the ship in case anything else is coming.
Okabe prepares for a breach.
The rest of the squad gets ready to move out.
An initial look into the ship shows things to be mostly clear, but again, we can't be too careful. We pull Okabe back and wait for more backup.
Some of the rest of the squad sweeps through the fields, looking for hostiles we might have missed.
We spot a single Snakeman, but we have things under control and quite a few of the squad in cover and ready to open fire.
Right when we get the Snakeman, another of those unidentified aliens comes at us.
And we spot two hostiles just past the entrance to the ship.
A burst from Okabe gets one, and Bailey gets the other.
The other hostile rushes towards the squad outside. It's faster than we anticipated; Crossett nearly gets caught in the blast of an HE round from Sharpe before gunning it down.
With the entryway to the ship clear, we consider moving to clear the other side as well.
Other parts of the team move to take the entrance we've already secured.
We hear gunfire from higher up in the ship; the massive enemy casualties have demoralized one of the crew, who has panicked and started firing randomly.
The alien Crossett just shot wasn't as dead as we hoped, and has got up and started coming after him. He doesn't have enough time to get away, and he's...
...what?
Sharpe blows away the assailant with more HE rounds, but now we have to deal with... whatever Crossett's been turned into.
Steinbach, who's almost right next to him, is forced to pull back before the squad opens fire on what's left of Crossett...
...what? Another of those things just hatched from Mark Crossett's corpse. 
We unleash everything we have on this new target.
And this time we're making sure that it's DEAD this time.
We push into the other side of the ship.
With squad members at both sides, it's time to push in.
Sharpe makes her way in as well, switching to the pistol for close-range indoor combat.
We spot a Snakeman through a hole in the upper level; it appears to be the one that panicked earlier, and by this point it has dropped its weapon out of fear.
We are cleared to make our way up to the second level. The engines are gone, as well as whoever was working on them.
Okabe's first to go up, with Tatsuo in tow. We prepare to breach the second level of the ship.
Surprisingly, we encounter little resistance.
Bailey and Sharpe fire at the Snakeman through the hole in the floor.
The cockpit is empty; that one Snakeman we encountered was apparently the only one up here.
During the sweep outside, we find another unarmed, demoralized alien. Before another squad member can catch up with a stun rod, Unger fires on the Snakeman through the window.
Results of Operation Baltic Mongoose:Col. Andrea Sharpe: 1 kill, can not be promoted further
Jane ?Holepunch? Bailey: 6 kills, not promoted
Masunori ?Doorcrasher? Okabe: 2 kills, not promoted
Tatsuo Akira: 0 kills, not promoted
Christel Unger: 1 kill, not promoted
Cmdr. Leonid Romanov: 0 kills, can not be promoted further
Otto Krause: 0 kills, not promoted
Siegfried Steinbach: 0 kills, not promoted
Andrei Ragulin: 0 kills, not promoted
Mark Crossett: 8 kills, killed in action
17 aliens killed by X-COM ground forces
UFO hull, navigation systems, and entertainment devices recovered
The new alien we have encountered is being referred to as the ?Chryssalid?. It is a parasitic lifeform that reproduces by killing and ?puppeting? other life to use as a host for its larva. We understand little about the larval growth, but we do know that the Chryssalid is an extreme threat. It was fortunate we prevented this ship from reaching a civilian population; there's no telling what would have happened in that case.
