Operation Absolute Zero
Operation Absolute Zero was a classified operation conducted in 977 on Teg’s Grotto in the Novageon heliosphere by the black ops force known as “Blackout” against the security team of LykaRel Corporation, which was guarding a covert energy research facility. The operation is notable for being carried out in the midst of a blizzard, as well as the unconfirmed involvement of the noted solo operator Fang “Bloodhound” Xi. According to after-action reports conducted by LykaRel, the goal of Operation Absolute Zero was to sabotage the facility’s experimental reactor in order to halt LykaRel’s research into antimatter technology.
Background
Political commentators within the Unitas Prefecture of Onyda have long published three or five-year reports on what organizations or corporations are economically, politically, or militarily ascendant in the FalconSky heliosphere. For the past 10 years, the top two corporations have been the Prefecture-governing entity Sikon-Hina Syndicate and the LykaRel Corporation.
Publicly available records reveal that Sikon-Hana formally passed a resolution banning all research into antimatter technology in Novageon in 990. This effectively outlawed LykaRel Corporation’s development of an antimatter reactor in the Prefecture of Onyda. Soon after the resolution, corporate insiders claimed that LykaRel Corporation moved their existing reactor and research team to the remote planet of Teg’s Grotto, where it could continue its work in secret.
Based on declassified blueprints, the research facility on Teg’s Grotto consisted of two laboratories, the reactor, staff quarters, barracks, a cafeteria, a garage/workshop, a terrarium, and a recreation area. LykaRel contracted a high-clearance detachment of GuardCorps zeo pilots and support troops as a security detail, but did not inform them of the nature of the facility’s work. Desiring not to attract attention, LykaRel equipped its zeo pilots with Soldats, rather than the more versatile and capable Stormers.
Prelude
In the days leading up to the operation, LykaRel’s security forces recorded three anomalous encounters, which were later identified as reconnaissance efforts by Blackout. First, the facility’s radar picked up a fragmentary signature from an unidentified aircraft. Later, this was confirmed to be a cloaked transport craft that deployed the primary Blackout strike team.
Second, the perimeter sensors around the facility registered an unknown contact near a maintenance entrance, which vanished after two seconds and went unnoticed by security staff. An hour later, another unknown contact was made near the garage/workshop area, though this reading too went unnoticed. These are generally agreed by LykaRel analysts to be Blackout reconnaissance probing the facility’s defenses.
Finally, two members of the facility’s security team went missing while returning from picking up supplies from a LykaRel dropship. Their untouched cargo vehicle was found soon after, with all supplies intact. The two security team members have never been located.
Operation
Phase 1
Eighteen hours after LykaRel personnel recovered the supplies from the abandoned cargo vehicle, a blizzard engulfed the facility, dropping visibility to zero and severely interfering with sensor range and functionality. Around 0200 hours local time, three Blackout operatives piloting winterized Stormer Tactical Zeoforms and two drone operators (accompanied by two Hyane Assault Drones) assaulted the garage/workshop, disabling vehicles and causing a sizable explosion by igniting the base’s refueling bay.
At the same time, a lone Stormer pilot, allegedly Fang “Bloodhound” Xi, breached the facility’s maintenance entrance without triggering any alarms. At this point, the base’s security personnel, consisting of five Soldat pilots, roughly a dozen troopers, two tech ops, and a tactical auditor, were able to reach the armory, enter their respective zeos, and arm themselves.
A fierce and confused firefight ensued in the garage, with Blackout Stormers nimbly maneuvering around the wide, cluttered space and using the wrecks of destroyed vehicles as cover. Likewise, the Hyane drones used cover to close the distance to their targets, as well as ambush and retreat before being focused on by enemy fire.
After a few minutes, the five Soldats of the security team were able to use their Fusi Missile Packs to blast away most of the Stormers’ cover. At this point, alarms began to sound across the facility, warning of a reactor malfunction.
Phase 2
During the firefight in the garage, the pilot identified as Fang “Bloodhound” Xi was able to enter the facility’s laboratories and set at least six Type 7 Clamp charges on vital pieces of equipment, including a cutting-edge laser spectroscopy system. After rigging the charges with a detonation signal, she moved to the main reactor, which was housed in a room about two hundred feet square and forty feet high.
Upon entering the chamber, Xi planted three more Type 7 clamp charges on the base of the reactor itself, then located the stabilization array and backup power generator. Xi proceeded to destroy both of the latter with close-range bursts from a Claviger Battle Rifle. At this point, the alarms began to sound throughout the facility.
Xi exited the reactor chamber and encountered several tech ops belonging to the security team, which she quickly suppressed with bursts from her Claviger. Under fire, she exited the facility by breaking through the terrarium and collapsing the hallway behind her with more clamp charges. At this point, Xi made a coded message to her comrades, assumedly a signal to retreat.
While Xi made her escape, the rest of the Blackout team disengaged from the garage and retreated into the blizzard. Emergency evacuation protocols were enacted for the facility’s staff and security team, but all base vehicles were inoperable. Consequently, the base’s personnel were forced to use the most intact vehicles as makeshift sleds and rely on the Soldats to pull them to a safe distance.
At 0218, eighteen minutes after the operation began, the facility was engulfed by a massive explosion. The base and all its equipment were annihilated, along with roughly nine months of research data.
Aftermath
LykaRel was able to recover 76% of the facility’s staff, with the remaining members succumbing to frostbite or wounds sustained during the assault. After a detailed debriefing, LykaRel’s intelligence department determined that they had been targeted by Blackout, likely acting under the direction of Sikon-Hina. A secret directive was handed down from LykaRel’s board to “discontinue all research into antimatter technology until further notice.”
LykaRel never acknowledged the destruction of the facility, the nature of its research, or the cause of the casualties. No retaliation was ordered for the attack, and all records of the facility’s existence and LykaRel’s continued research were destroyed or restricted to board members.
Consequences
The only public blowback from the operation came when several major investors in LykaRel sold their shares in the corporation, apparently in reaction to the revelation that LykaRel had discontinued antimatter research.
This rapid, unexpected sell-off devastated the corporation’s stock price and angered several former LykaRel partners, who had expected the breakthrough in antimatter to only be delayed by a year. LykaRel’s influence and prestige within Onyda plummeted, causing local political commentators to remark that the corporation’s status as an up-and-coming power player in the Prefecture had ended.
