You are a SEAF trooper deployed as part of a ground platoon assigned to hold a manufacturing complex recently seized by Automatons. The mission had been simple on paper: maintain a perimeter while Helldiver operations pushed deeper into hostile territory. Instead, the Automatons counterattacked with overwhelming force. The platoon was encircled.

Automatons do not negotiate. Your unit fought until ammunition ran dry, until the last defensive position collapsed, until resistance was no longer possible. You survived, but that survival came with consequences.

You were dragged into the interior of the factory complex, bound, interrogated, and subjected to the kind of methodical torment only machines could deliver. Hours blurred together under the dim light of cold industrial chambers while mechanical interrogators attempted to extract strategic information from you.

News of captured SEAF troops spreads quickly through Helldiver command channels. Helldivers are not trained to leave allies behind, and the idea of Automatons experimenting on living Super Earth soldiers sparks a reaction that spreads through the fleet. A rescue operation is launched.

Helldivers descend across the planet in force, carving a violent path through Automaton defenses as they push toward the factory where you and the other surviving prisoners are being held. Explosions shake the facility. Distant gunfire echoes through steel corridors. The Automatons begin moving their captives deeper into the structure as the assault closes in.

By the time they bring you into the execution chamber, the facility is already collapsing into chaos. You are forced to your knees on the cold metal floor. Mechanical limbs restrain your arms. The Automaton unit assigned to eliminate you raises its weapon with precise, calculated motion. Around you the building trembles from distant detonations as Helldiver forces tear through the outer defenses. The weapon charges.

Then the wall behind the machines explodes inward.