Can you not run any missions while retaliations are active?

[Philosofy101]

While most of my roster was away infiltrating some other missions, I had the intel mini-retaliation pop up (protect the datatap) with a mere 19 hours of time until it expired. There was no way I could possibly infiltrate that in time, so I resigned myself to facing a full retaliation. Sure enough, shortly after I passed on the mini-retal, the full retaliation popped up. I had a little more than a day to respond to it.

With my roster still depleted, I decided to launch another mission that was just about cooked in order to have some guys to slot in to the retaliation. However, after completing this second mission, I returned to the map to see the retaliation gone and my entire haven gone. I can only assume the retaliation killed everyone?

Is this an intended mechanic? I launched and completed the other mission with enough time (and now troops) to then activate the retal, but I no longer had the option. Does doing any other mission with a retal on the board count as ignoring the retal and suffering the consequences, even if the timer on the retal should still keep it up for a bit? Appreciate any light someone could shed on this- pretty miffed about losing my home haven because I thought I could bring some soldiers home before defending against the retal.

[Vitaeus]

That mission type is an instant. You set up the squad, hit start mission and go to the tactical battle.