Force S5 - Part V

Given that last time was so rules-heavy, let's take a break and do a little more story about the world of Force S5. I also finally have some miniatures I like for this project, so expect to see at least some WIPs soon.

Alright, while we have a moment, I can tell you have a lot of questions, so let's do a whole "Secret History of the World" rundown for you, shall we?

Ancient Aliens (approx 12000 BCE) 
Yes, aliens did visit Earth before the modern age, but such encounters were few and far between. There were no Chariots of the Gods and the Pyramids were built by really smart humans working really hard. There was some action before the rise of man, but we'll cover that later.

Tunguska (30 June 1908)
Whilst exotic matter was involved in the mysterious explosion over Siberia, specifically antimatter, is was not due to a UFO, at least not how we think about it. Antimatter doesn't exist in our universe in large amounts and cannot spontaneously generate to the degree the Tunguska event required. Whilst the truth may never be known for sure, it seems most likely that there was an extra-dimensional incursion of some kind, some craft use antimatter engines, so it could have been a drive field failure or a bad crash of some kind. Or it could have been a natural but vanishingly-rare occurrence of the barriers between two realities "rubbing" and something peaking through. What really mattered about the Tunguska incident, beyond what it actually may have been, was that it was enough of an enigma to attract the attention of various "Secret Societies", starting an international conflict that, in some ways, continues to this day. Early groups like the Illuminati, Society of Thule and Rotarian fought in the shadows over whatever scraps of esoteric knowledge could be found in the Siberian wilderness.

The Battle of Los Angeles (24 February 1942)
One of the earliest genuine encounters with UFOs, the so-called Battle of Los Angeles was actually something of a "wrong turn" by extra-dimensional entities responding to the Philadelphia Experiment and arriving too early. Initially not openly hostile, the Shadow People saw the horrors on the USS Eldridge as it passed through another universe and tried to make peaceful first contact. Of course, this was the height of the Second World War, so anti-aircraft fire was a fairly logical response from the Americans to mysterious lights in the sky. Whilst bullets famously do no lasting harm to either light-based craft or Shadow People, being forced to suddenly retreat back behind the barrier is unpleasant, so it still read as an "attack". This incident became a major contributing factor in both the general hostility of the Shadow People and the abduction wave of the 1950s.

The Philadelphia Experiment (28 October 1943) 
This attempt by the US Navy to create visual stealth technology accidentally ended up breaching the barrier between our reality and somewhere else, in many ways, kick-starting this entire conflict. This was the real "first contact" moment for humanity in many ways, just unplanned, perplexing and violent. The transit of USS Eldridge through a nearby reality was a shock to not only the poor crew, most of whom did not survive the experience, but also to the scientists behind the project and the inhabitants of that adjacent plane. Crossing the dimensional barrier is a major technological leap and almost no species make it accidentally, so when humanity did so, they signaled to every species out there that we were ready for contact. Being not at all ready, this is where all the trouble started. Think about it, there were sightings and encounters before this, but when did all the supernatural nonsense really kick off? In the decades following the Philadelphia Experiment. Although not all are directly linked, everything from Bigfoot to BEKs and UAPs to the Secret Space Programme comes back to this moment.

Operation HIGHJUMP (26 August 1946)
During the height of the Nazi regime, the SS and Thule Society pushed to set up a research station in Antarctica. Part of this drive was to demonstrate Fascist superiority through science, but there was a more sinister reason as well. Whilst aliens never helped build the pyramids or the Moai of Easter Island, there was a civilisation here long before humanity; around 90 Million years ago to be precise. Back then, Antarctica was a subtropical paradise, covered in rain-forest, so it should come as no surprise that some form of extraterrestrial intelligence set up camp there when they came across our planet. Just what these creatures were and where they came from isn't well understood, as little of their culture has survived, and what there is is hard to reach, but the Nazis knew it was there and wanted it. Just how useful the archeology the Nazis discovered in the endless snowy wilderness is debatable, but the station hung on long after the surrender at Berlin. Operation HIGHJUMP was the Americans cleaning up the last of the Nazi mess, and if they got their hands on the flying saucer technology and alien ruins, so much the better. Of course, no one was prepared for the horrors that the Nazis had uncovered, so a mop-up operation became a clusterfuck of eldritch terror that was quickly swept under the rug of military history.

Roswell Incident (June 1947)

The most famous UFO crash in history was basically what it obviously always was; an experimental aircraft crash. I mean, think about it. Groom Lake specialises in new flight technology, of course it was something secret that they didn't want to talk about. Really, Roswell has to be one of the greatest PsyOps in history, as even over fifty years later, people are still convinced that aliens were involved. This is, of course, not to say that there aren't US Air Force personnel working with alien tech and UAPs buzzing around, it was just never here.

Mothman (1966)

To this day, no one is quite sure what the Mothman (or Mothmen) is, but it has been around for years and encounters seem to be escalating. A being of unrelenting terror and deep mystery, capturing one for study has been at the top of the priority list for many agencies for years now. The leading theory is that the Mothman entity comes from a nearby reality and is attracted to our plane by pain and suffering. Due to the nature of time in our plane and how it differs across the universal spectrum, it's possible that the first Mothman was attempting to get to the Point Pleasant bridge collapse and just arrived early, hiding out in a place considered haunted by locals because it was more comfortable to it. Whatever this thing or things happen to be, there are more and more coming, so watch out because there is nothing quite like the wave of absolute terror that they generate.

Bloop Noise (1997)

A Force S5 raid on an Illuminati base on the Pacific seabed ended spectacularly when the antimatter generator powering the instillation went critical, wiping it from this reality entirely. Sure, there are massive, undiscovered sea creatures out there, but this was an operation going tits-up and everyone getting killed. In Force S5 training, "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" is used to teach how anything can go wrong at any time and a good Commander needs to ready for anything. Also don't shoot HEAT rounds in a generator room.