Top Secret // GROUNDGATE // NOFORN
Handling: BIGOT list only · Compartment GROUNDGATE · Reproduction prohibited · Control GG-77213-04
Joint Subsurface Expeditionary Command GROUNDGATE — Programme Intranet
GROUNDGATE · Mission Logs

Mission Logs

Every crossing the programme has logged — surveys, contacts, parleys, raids, and the one that came the other way — with outcomes.

Owner: OperationsLogged: 12 missionsOpen: INC-GG-12Marking: TS//GROUNDGATE//NOFORN

1.0 Mission Log

RefCodenameDateNode / apertureTypeOutcome
INC-GG-01CONSOLE LIGHT2021-07-02GG-1ActivationGATE LIVE
INC-GG-02FIRST LIGHT2021-08-14GG-D2 ColonnadeSurveySUCCESS · ref. dest.
INC-GG-03STILL WATCH2021-09-22GG-D5 Standing LightsSurveyCOMPLETE · UNCANNY
INC-GG-04DEEPGLASS2021-10-19GG-D4 SumpProbe surveyPROBE LOST
INC-GG-05CARNELIAN2021-11-30GG-D9 UnderholdContact (unintended)2 OF 3 RETURNED
INC-GG-06DEEP SOUNDING2022-01-25GG-D8 SoundingSurveyCOMPLETE → DEEPMARK
INC-GG-07OLIVE BRANCH2022-03-30GG-D9 UnderholdParleyFAILED
INC-GG-08GOOD NEIGHBOUR2022-09-27GG-D6 HearthlandsContactNON-HOSTILE · ALLY
INC-GG-09HARD FROST2022-11-12GG-D9 UnderholdDeterrence raidFAILED
INC-GG-10FAR SIGHT2023-08-08GG-D7 "Behind the Sun"Standoff contactHELD
INC-GG-11NORTHGATE2025-02-17GG-2Incursion (inbound)REPELLED (MARGINAL)
INC-GG-12LONG VIGILongoingGG-1Inbound watchONGOING

First contact (INC-GG-05) and the NORTHGATE incursion (INC-GG-11) each hold their own after-action file — follow the reference. The two expeditionary returns to the Underhold are detailed below.

2.0 Expeditionary Record — Returns to GG-D9

After first contact, two further crossings to GG-D9 were authorised, on opposite theories of how to make the Underhold stop. Both failed. Together they establish that the Drûl read both our restraint and our force as reasons to come.

INC-GG-07 · OLIVE BRANCH · Parley · FAILED

Theory: parley. A small, deliberately calm, unarmed delegation crossed to seek terms with the Ember Throne.

Outcome — FAILED. The Drûl have no concept of a negotiated peace that does not pass through submission. The delegation's restraint was received as tribute and its honesty as the disclosure of weakness. The "terms" returned to us were a demand for the location of the near gate and a date. One delegate did not return. Parley taught them we were ready to kneel.

INC-GG-09 · HARD FROST · Deterrence · FAILED

Theory: deterrence. A heavier element crossed to destroy a muster and demonstrate that Earth bites.

Outcome — FAILED. It bit. The Drûl absorbed the losses as an accounting entry, recovered two crates of ordnance for study, and — per the one returnee — celebrated. A foe worth the trouble is, to the Underhold, a reason to march, not a reason to stop. Deterrence inverted into invitation.

FINDING: neither the olive branch nor the hard frost moves the Drûl off the same conclusion — that Earth is soft, near, and worth taking. We have stopped crossing to GG-D9. The question is no longer how we reach them. It is how they reach us, and the answer arrived in the north.

3.0 Standing Operations

Top Secret // GROUNDGATE // NOFORN