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This isn't a war zone. It's genocide.

And Maggie's in the middle of it.

So is Lian.

Gabe Logan and Teresa Lipan, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow

The Spetsnaz Incursion on Azerbaijan was a major conflict of Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow which involved multiple forces. In their search for Cordell's classified cargo, Russian armed forces conducted genocidal activities within Kuranca, indiscriminately massacring civilians, while the Azerbaijani Resistance League was deployed to stop their advance. The situation was further compounded by MI6's interference; they sent out Maggie Powers to search for the same technology that the Russians were looking for. The Chinese, wanting Cordell's shipment as well, had Trinidad join the fray.

Gabe Logan and Maggie Powers eventually emerged the victor in this confrontation, but were both later captured by Surgei Kudrenko. Trinidad vaporised after helping Logan through a part of his mission, and eventually resurfaced in a Russian gulag to explain things to him. The Russians and Azerbaijanis also suffered massive casualties throughout the entire ordeal.

Events

Trinidad's reconaissance

“Shen is nowhere to be found. No. The Spetsnaz have overrun the entire town. Yes. I’ve verified that Shen Rei is with Xing. MI6 has a video of them together. God help them if they’re still down there. When I find them alive… I’ll deal with them myself.”

From an upper room in Kuranca, Azerbaijan, the Chinese Secret Service agent Leung Cha Qiao watches the carnage with binoculars. She reports to her superiors, telling them she cannot find Shen and the Russians have overrun the entire town. She adds that Shen Rei is with Lian Xing and MI6 has a video of them seen together. As she says this, the camera shows soldiers cutting down Azerbaijani citizens. She then resolves to deal with them herself when she finds them alive.

Teresa's briefing

“Gabe. What’s Lian doing? Who’s she with? I mean, I know she’s not a double agent, but how much d’you really know about her past?”

“Lian and I’ve been partners for ten years. I know enough.”

In the IPCA headquarters, Teresa gives Gabe a situation report, telling him the pictures of Lian were taken by MI6 by accident. She explains that smugglers have been taking advantage of a skirmish along the Azerbaijan border. MI6 was running a surveillance op to track them and set up cameras that take video images every few minutes; each picture is then run through their facial recognition software. They were able to trace Lian's ID to US intelligence when her image came back hot. Gabe asks who the man with her is but is told that MI6 ran a blank, and Teresa doesn't know him. She tells Gabe they stayed in a hotel in Kuranca, using one room for three nights. Teresa then asks Gabe how much he knows about Lian's past. He replies that they've been partners for ten years, and he knows enough. He decides to have Maggie Powers, who owes him a favour, called in.

Infiltrating the incursion zone

Entering the area via a body of water, Gabe identifies Kudrenko and realises the Spetsnaz are present. Teresa tells him it's the only way they could have known about the St. Helens, but she can't contact Maggie. Gabe tells her to keep trying and adds he will head to the rendezvous point. He dives and submerges, narrowly escaping detection just as a helicopter ascends, its light illuminating the place he had been just a second before.

Meeting with resistance members

On his way to the rendezvous point, Gabe watches as Spetsnaz battle Azerbaijani resistance forces, and remarks that it's a warzone. He then sees villagers being killed, and corrects himself: it's not a war, it's genocide. He takes down Russian soldiers (the latter having killed a resistance member) and hurries to locate Maggie Powers, but finds her missing. A message on the wall tells him she has been captured and wants him to leave.

Gabe disregards Maggie's warning and kills a Russian attempting to take down a resistance member. The latter tells him that he wishes to help, but their supply boat is stuck and they will lose without its equipment. Logan decides to assist them; the member falls victim to Spetsnaz patrols, but Gabe succeeds in unjamming a canal, causing the water level to rise and thus helping the boat. He is given the coordinates to the resistance headquarters.

Destruction of the Spetsnaz vehicle

Upon reaching the HQ, Gabe is confronted by total chaos. A Spetsnaz armoured personnel carrier has entered and is massacring Azerbaijanis. The resistance leader has explosives, but cannot set it due to the enemy's firepower. Gabe sabotages the turret, allowing the leader to plant his C4, and destroying the vehicle.

With the threat neutralised, Logan then converses with the resistance head. He learns that a Chinese woman, possibly Lian, was seen at the hotel, watching the room for days, but the man was not seen. Gabe goes in to find them.

Uneasy alliance with Trinidad

Once inside Lian's room, Gabe radios Teresa. She tells him to let Lian know they got there as soon as they could, but it's empty. Gabe suddenly takes cover when he hears somebody enter: the figure assaults him with a knife. Gabe deflects the first attack, but his assailant tries again, causing him to disarm the person and throw her on the bed, before cocking a pistol and aiming it at her head. He briefly interrogates her, asking who she is, who she's working for and where Lian is. She does not answer, but tells him Spetsnaz patrols return every hour. She then relents, telling him she's looking for Shen, but is interrupted when a patrol smashes down the door.

The duo fight their way through the hotel, taking down enemies until Trinidad tricks Gabe into boosting her to the rooftops. He does, but she uses this chance to run off, causing Logan to track her.

Covering fire for Trinidad

Realising from Teresa that the agent is their only lead, Gabe resolves to find her, but Spetsnaz patrols have also stumbled onto her, and he must then provide cover for her. When they meet up again, Trinidad asks him to give her another boost to the stairs, but Logan counters her, saying she won't go first this time. They both move a safe, allowing Gabe to climb onto the platform. From there, they emerge on the roof.

The Spetsnaz converge

On the rooftops, Gabe realises it's a trap. The Spetsnaz infantry move in to ambush him and Trinidad, while snipers set up their posts. He cuts down the enemies, and then arrives at a canal with the Chinese operative.

At this point, Trinidad realises reinforcements will arrive, and tells Gabe to follow her. He refuses to initially, believing it suicidal. Just as voices are heard coming closer, Trinidad asks Gabe if he's used to trusting women, and leaps into the water below. Gabe reluctantly follows just as gunfire erupts from the door he previously used to enter the area from.

The search for Maggie Powers

Inside the canal, Gabe realises Trinidad somehow vanished, but is told to forget about her. Teresa provides the coordinates for the Spetsnaz command centre, where Lian or Maggie will be. Logan then sees an attack helicopter show up; it fires missiles, killing a group of Azerbaijani resistance members.

He continues on through the area, clearing out Spetsnaz patrols and destroying laser mines that block his path. When he arrives at the Russian headquarters, he hears a troop interrogating Maggie, asking her what was MI6 doing in Kuranca; his reponse is that they were merely tracking smugglers.

As the troop brags about the Spetsnaz ethnically cleansing Azerbaijan, Gabe enters and kills the trio inside. He heads for Maggie and unties her. Despite her splitting headache, she is forced to rally herself when the gunship Logan earlier saw shows up. She heads for an RPG.

Destruction of the Spetsnaz chopper

Now unarmoured, Maggie relies on Gabe's instructions, and fires on the helicopter when its attacks pause. Following a long battle, the duo bring it down.

Captured by Kudrenko

Before they can escape, Gabe and Maggie are caught by Kudrenko. The duo are taken to Gebel Tyorma, in the Republic of Georgia.

Aftermath

With their numbers significantly dwindled, the Spetsnaz bring their prisoners to one of Kudrenko's gulag and presumably cease operations in Azerbaijan. Back in the USA, Robert Cordell shuts down the Agency, evicting Teresa Lipan from the headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

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