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

Part 12: A Game Changer

As soon as their engines had started however, they were detected by the NWU fireteam. Their 25.38mm rounds ripped into the CROS tanks and immediately knocked out their engines and control systems. The ammo drums connected to the 50mm guns were also obliterated, their munition content exploding into mushroom clouds taller than the already massive facility.

Some onsite CROS fighter aircraft attempted to strafe the fireteam, but were promptly shot down. Another wave of aircraft attempted dropping bombs accurately, failing at this thanks to guidance jammers in the fireteam members' suits. The fireteam proceeded forward and through the facility, met by heavy resistance the whole way. They came under fire from a CROS grenade launcher emplacement on their right, which was spitting out grenades at around 7500 rounds a minute.

The team members instinctively dropped to the floor and crawling towards it while still suppressing the CROS personnel around them, and 1-3 threw a black hole grenade at the emplacement. This caused it and the enemy manning it to get sucked in and absorbed by the black hole, which then disappeared. The team proceeded on, coming under more fire from heavy gun emplacements.

Much the same scene played out, repeating until the last 3 CROS soldiers in the whole facility  were taken hostage by the fireteam and forced into temporary holding cells. 1-1 kicked a wall of the facility down, its metallic and plain wall coming down with a heavy thud. Inside seemed to be some sort of table with seats all around it, this time faced inside, with all of the walls colored black to the point that it seemed the room was dark.

The seats looked more like pods than anything else, having a thick transparent layer around its content. Its content seemed to be a heavily concentrated thaumaturgic energy cluster in the shape of a humanoid. Pinging for the rest of the fireteam to ensure that what 1-1 really was seeing these things in the pods, the others went around the central table.

"Yo 1-1, you're right. These things gave us the sigs as well." 1-2 transmitted. "1-1 to SOCOM, we just found some thaumaturgic- possibly eldritch humanoids powering their systems. Advise." "Just follow usual hostage rescue protocol and bring 'em back, over." "Understood." Elder 1-1 closed comms and then looked around.

Elder 1-1 quickly scanned the containment vessel holding the weird humanoids, identifying a thaumaturgic linking system hooked up to a button. Elder 1-1 pressed the button, which severed the linking system and caused the being to slump forwards and onto the central table. Elder 1-1 teleported the being into a SHPF [Special Hostage Processing Facility], and pinged his teammates to do the same. 

The group went around the room freeing these beings from their links to the facility, which also cut the power. Lights all around the facility and surrounding area turned off, and over in the CROS capital, plenty of urban districts, especially those housing a large military presence, shut down and found themselves without power, though civilian electronics, food suppliers, and water generators still functioned due to being on a different power supply, thanks to some CROS foresight.

Elder 1-1 used a version of the XM199 to punch through a wall, causing it to essentially disintegrate. The fireteam exited through the now missing wall and called in an MPH-07. The aircraft seemed to appear, its rotor seeming to have a trail of thaumaturgy following its blades. The vehicle's doors opened, and the team stepped in.

The thaumaturgically upgraded MPH flew up and accelerated into orbit, linking up with the cloaked OVRB element dispatched by SOCOM and then exiting the star system. The vehicle teleported to another star system, finding a planet shrouded in dust and gas, bearing a heavily increased thaumaturgic and slight eldritch signature. 

The MPH flew through the gas with no issues, and shortly stopped just outside of orbit. The MPH launched the pods containing the fireteam immediately after. The pods descended at hypersonic speed, eventually, upon breaking the planet's clouds, thrusters kicked in to slow the pods' landing and prevent collateral damage and detection. Elder 1-1 exited the pods, scanning the surrounding environment. The pods had landed at the edge of a dried up caldera, presumably drained by the CROS.

The caldera itself was massive, and the power facility was similar in size to the previous one, being somewhat larger and the presence of CROS flags was much more apparent. It seemed to branch out from the center like a growth, still surrounding a central facility. It had another comms building atop a hill, though this one was considerably larger.

It had multiple floors, and Elder 1-1 immediately identified where the signals were coming from. He activated his cloaking, flying up and pinging where he confirmed the communications operator to be. Elder 1-1 accelerated through the roof, coming to a stop right behind the operator. He silently whipped out a silenced M9 revolver, blasting the operator's head off.

Performing the exact procedure he had done with PPD 'Alpha', he shoved a jammer into the console. It crackled for a few seconds, then exploding with a few different colors. The explosion set off alarms in the building, which then set off all of the alarms in the facility. The rest of Fireteam Elder crashed into the facility, setting up defensive positions covering egress locations.

The comms office was overlooking a central courtyard, which was becoming the main source of enemy fire for the fireteam. Elder 1-1 threw an M108 grenade, punching it with his XM199 and sending it flying into the guards. It flew and detonated like a missile, taking out nearly all of them as Elder 1-1 jumped down and took out whoever remained.

Autonomous tanks similar in make to those at the previous facility yet boasting a heavier armament rolled up around the hill, this time pointing 76.2mm gatling guns at the building. The tanks maneuvered into decently protected positions and opened fire on the building. A missile flew out of a wall and slammed into one of the tanks.

The tank exploded, its ammo being detonated and sending its turret flying. Elder 1-1 tossed his fracturer through the roof of the building, then firing his M9 at it. Elder 1-1 punched the round fired from the M9 revolver, causing it to fracture its round into a few dozen. These fractured rounds targeted the tanks via a lockon system and instantly zipped towards them.

The round slammed through their armor, once again targeting their ammo drums and detonating the rounds loaded inside them. Their turrets split in half due to the positioning of the thaumaturgic ammo drums and flew in opposite directions, slamming into buildings and even causing one to collapse.

The building that collapsed was a rapid fuel storage, which Elder 1-1 took the opportunity to quickly switch to his rocket launcher and fire a round, detonating the whole thing. The explosion rocked the entire facility, knocking out a lot of buildings near the center and creating a massive plume of multicolored smoke.

When the storage detonated, enemy fire stopped. Elder 1-1 pinged the central facility as CROS units were visible running to specially colored shelters. The team bashed in windows with little effort, flying through them and finding a similar room configuration to the first facility. The strange eldritch humanoid creatures still sat around a central table, though a red glow emanated from somewhere in the middle.

Strange growls were audible from the center of the table, which was some sort of red crack in the floor. The team freed the humanoids who were still unresponsive as the crack grew. The team freed the last humanoid and sent them into a pocket dimension, the crack growing uncontrollably. 

A door opened, and an unarmed CROS soldier looked into the room, noticing the growing red crack. An audible "Oh shit-" was heard, and the guy ran away. Taking this cue, the fireteam left through the way they came in, finding the roads of the facility all empty except for tanks and armored vehicles not aiming for them, which they also ignored.

"1-1, do ya know what the fuck we just did in that facility?" Elder 1-4 was met with a silent 'no, but it's bad' kind of gesture, which she acknowledged with a nod. They flew back to the place their pods had landed, taking one last look at the facility to ensure that they wouldn't be under fire.

(I will try to make each chapter 3750 words or more 👽)

v1.0.0. release

(3875 words)