[DAY 4 – VERSE TIME: 00:53:11]
[LOCATION: Frozen No-Man's-Land, Route to Necromech Command Bunker]
[OBJECTIVE: ASSASSINATE NECROMECH OFFICER | BONUS: SECURE INTEL CACHE]
Snow crunched. Blood steamed. Silence devoured everything.
Twelve soldiers moved like ghosts through a shattered woodland outside Volkov. Their breath curled into the air, weapons tight in their hands, eyes flicking between the skeletal trees and the burnt-out vehicles like prey hunted by something older than war.
At their head, Kai Morgan crouched behind a fallen APC, studying the frozen path ahead. Glowing mines blinked under the snow like dying embers. He marked three with a flick of his gloved fingers. His right arm still ached from the concussion—his ribs throbbed with every breath—but his mind was clear. Focused.
Behind him, a girl named Monroe whispered, "We're thirty minutes from the Necro Bunker. Recon says their psy-guard patrols sweep in 10-minute intervals."
Kai nodded. "Then we move during their dead zone. One misstep, and this forest will be a meat grinder."
He turned to the others.
"Sanders, you're rear scout. Monroe, flank right with Weller. Ward, get ready to cut the power grid once we breach. I want no alarms."
A few nodded. One soldier, trembling, asked, "What if the officer's guarded by a Deathlock?"
Kai didn't blink. "Then don't fight fair."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Team Status: 12/12 Active
Mission Progress: 47%
Tutorial Bonus Progression Path Engaged
🎖️ Skill Trigger Zone: "Shadow Advance"
→ Move undetected through suppressed zones for 3 minutes.
⚠️ Tutorial Skills available ONLY in Mission 1 unless upgraded.
Kai exhaled slowly.
"Move."
[DAY 4 – VERSE TIME: 00:57:22]
[Eastern Slope – Proximity to Necromech Bunker Complex]
The world narrowed to snow and breath.
Monroe disabled two perimeter tripwires with surgical calm. Weller planted EMP charges near a comms relay. Kai knelt behind a trench lip and peered through rusted binoculars.
There it was: the Necromech Command Bunker. A block of obsidian metal half-buried in frost and black earth, cables like veins running out of its base, humming with corrupted energy. Guard towers flanked it, but the biggest threat—
A Deathlock.
Twelve feet tall. A beast of fused bone and machine wrapped in a tattered officer's coat, its face hidden beneath a cracked officer's cap and rusted mask. Steam hissed from its joints with every step, and its presence churned the snow into slush beneath its boots.
Behind it, deep inside the bunker, waited their main target—the Necromech Officer directing the siege on Volkov.
Kai checked the team. Their eyes flickered to him. Fear simmered under the surface.
He pulled the pin on a smoke bomb and hurled it.
TSSSSHHHHH.
Gray mist rolled across the snow. The squad moved like a blade.
[INSIDE NECROMECH BUNKER – RED SECTOR]
The corridors were slick with frost and blood. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, some blinking erratically. Crates filled with dismembered body parts sat beside oil-dripping weapons racks. Something inhuman gurgled from behind a locked door.
Kai's boots made no sound.
He raised a fist—halt.
Around the next bend, a psy-guard hovered, helmetless, its eyes glowing blue, scanning for heat signatures. Kai pulled a mirror shard from his coat and angled it. Sightline confirmed.
He motioned.
Monroe crawled forward and—
SHHHK!
A clean throat-slash. No noise. No flare. Just a twitch and silence.
[SYSTEM REWARD – Skill Unlocked]
"Silent Kill (Lv. 1)" – You've eliminated an enemy without alerting nearby units.
🎖️ Tutorial Bonus Skill Gained
+10 VP
They advanced until Ward stopped them at a door.
"Power junction's through here. I can kill the lights and internal alarms—but we'll have a five-minute window before they reboot. After that, we're blind."
Kai didn't hesitate. "Do it."
[DAY 4 – VERSE TIME: 01:04:03]
[BLACKOUT COMMENCING]
Click—
The lights died.
Screams echoed from deeper inside. Sirens hiccupped and stopped. The bunker trembled.
"MOVE!"
They stormed down the final corridor.
Gunfire erupted—turrets firing blindly into the dark. One caught Sanders in the thigh. He dropped, screaming.
"No time!" Kai barked. "Weller, grab him or leave him!"
Weller dragged Sanders while Monroe gunned down the malfunctioning turret.
They breached the central command room.
A dome-shaped chamber lit only by console screens—and there he was:
The Necromech Officer.
He was more machine than man—silver skull encased in a breathing apparatus, hands laced with energy claws, and a spine of exposed nerves glowing crimson. He turned as Kai entered.
"So... the Verse sends rats now."
"Only one of us walks out of here," Kai growled.
The officer lunged. Kai rolled.
Claws sliced past his face. He fired his revolver—CRACK! CRACK!—but the bullets sparked off armor.
Weller tossed a grenade.
BOOM.
Smoke. Screaming. Sparks.
Monroe leapt onto the officer's back, stabbing repeatedly before she was thrown into a console. Kai grabbed a broken pipe and slammed it into the mech's glowing spinal port.
The officer shrieked.
Kai kicked him into a wall and pulled the pin on his last grenade.
"No respawn," he whispered—and threw.
KA-BOOOOOOM!
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION – OBJECTIVE COMPLETE]
🧠 Necromech Officer Killed
+300 VP
🎖️ Rank Promotion Eligible
Bonus Extract Location: Activated
Secure Intel Detected: Optional
Team Status: 7/12
Current VP: 375
💰 Transfer Eligible: 1875 Universal Credits
🎖️ Rank Evaluation: [Private ➜ Corporal]
New Trait Unlocked: "Adaptive Commander"
→ Bonus to team tactics and environmental use in future missions.
[DAY 5 – VERSE TIME: 01:17:42]
[EXTRACTION POINT – VENT SYSTEM EXIT, 2KM FROM BUNKER]
The survivors stumbled out into the open night, lit only by distant fires and streaks of anti-air flak. A shuttle descended—black, unmarked, with a glowing Verse logo on its hull. Its doors hissed open.
Kai turned, eyes scanning the horizon.
Volkov still burned.
The war wasn't over—but their part was.
They climbed aboard.
[SYSTEM TRANSITION INITIATED…]
Mission Time Elapsed: 1 Day, 17 Hours
Real-World Time Passed: 1 Hour, 42 Minutes
Verse Mission Complete.
Returning to Earth in T-minus 60 seconds…
[REAL WORLD – EARTH]
[Kai's Apartment – 6:14 AM]
Kai awoke in his bed—gasping.
Sweat soaked the sheets. His ribs still ached. But on his wrist, a small metal band blinked.
[VERSE SYNC DEVICE – ACTIVE]
Funds Available: 1,875 Universal Credits
Pending Rank: Corporal
Skill Retention Prompt: Upgrade Skills with VP before next mission.
He rose, walked to the living room, and found Lily asleep on the couch, curled around a teddy bear, cartoons still playing from last night.
Kai exhaled.
He had survived.
But the Verse… was only just beginning.