-=+ +=- [COMPLETED] The Second Universe -=+ +=-

Part 11: War Begins

The object roared through the sky and burned up brightly, crashing into the planet's bioluminescent blue ocean and having given the craft enough time to enter without being detected. On the deck of the ship, cheering was audible, likely in response to the beautiful sight of the meteor almost fully burning up and splashing into the water. Those on the deck returned to the superstructure tower that they had likely been assigned to, as the craft quietly hovered near them and in front of the window.

Tempus, taking point, exited, gunning down all of the armed CROS crew, organic or not. He motioned for a newly reassigned ONI operative who had been attached to the mission to follow him, and she nodded. The task force was now crossing across the deck filled with metallic cargo crates, and had zero contact with any enemies. The weather was also starting to get darker, and rain began pouring down on the ship and the ocean around it.

The windows of the second superstructure opened, and CROS machine gun emplacements had now begun firing on the task force with what seemed to be .680 rounds. Tempus, acting calm, pinged the different emplacements, which were taken out by precise HIMCW and UBGL fire. Now understanding that the element of surprise was lost, he quickly lead the group towards a door. Scanning through the door and finding several enemies hoping to ambush the group, he fired a 50mm grenade through.

The grenade exploded, killing all of the enemies in the room except for one heavily injured alien. The alien raised its hands in surrender as the group breached through the door. "Sit your little 👽 over there, by that corner." Tempus ordered, and the lil gray fella promptly did so, having its arms behind its head. The group pressed further down a staircase, with no enemies in sight. They also felt the ship seeming to move faster and faster.

They kicked down a door, finding a large room filled with crates and CROS opponents. The group silently threw a variant of M108 grenade called 'thaumaturgic suffocation grenades', which sucked out the oxygen and replaced it with other gases, stunning the enemy soldiers down below. This gave the Enigma Corps task force enough time to shoot their heads and cause them to drop dead.

Splitting up into several groups, they descended into the room, looting any CROS gear they could get their hands on as well as vital and critical intel. Once the room was emptied, only a few minutes later, the door into the final cargo hold was breached. The target, Eric Schwab, shot back at the task force, but was rather unceremoniously shot in the balls with a 1.19 Hyperbeam round, the pain and heat of which caused him to once again anticlimactically die.

"Holy shit, nice shot Tenebrous." Tempus said while shooting the remaining CROS crew that were guarding the now late Schwab. The rest of the crew were killed and had been thoroughly looted for intel and gear. The group assembled to leave, but a very loud thud now reverberated throughout the ship. It was likely from an impact with something massive, and this caused the task force members to quickly rebalance themselves, successfully reaching the surface.

Tempus frowned, seeing as the ship had been beached onto the beach directly next to the massive fort stretching out into the horizon that they had hoped to avoid. Tenebrous separated from the group to follow Tempus' ping for her, which was to make sure they had the prisoner, the alien. She quickly returned with the little gray alien in tow, finding Tempus standing at the bow of the ship and looking across the fort.

Tempus activated his comms while the CROS began firing at their beached cargo ship. "Excalibur, this is Black Dragon. Requesting fire mission - target package Rho - danger close." A response from an artillery officer responded, distressed. "That's within A MILE of your position, sir!" "That's not a fucking suggestion. Send it!" The officer responded to the command. "Roger that, fire mission danger close."

Thousands of stealth Beam howitzers, usually with suppressed power due to their stealthy nature, had that disadvantage completely negated by the use of howitzers and sent these beams flying through space and onto the planet. Millions of explosions now raged violently as the howitzers fired, destroying ammo magazines, vehicles, fuel stations, and buildings as soldiers yelled to take cover. The fortress's main compound, a massive cubic structure stretching into the sky, was blanketed in explosions to the point its shiny exterior was invisible.