Earth’s war with the Thubans has entered its third month, the Adeptus Astartes are barely holding the line, several major cities have been evacuated, and nobody is entirely sure how much longer the planet can sustain a conflict between two forces capable of turning entire regions into smoking craters.
Naturally, this is when the underground space Nazis showed up.
Because apparently things were not complicated enough.
The first indication that something new had entered the war came when Thuban forces advancing across Antarctica suddenly disappeared from surveillance feeds.
Not retreated.
Not destroyed by orbital fire.
Just gone.
Several hours later, satellite imagery showed dozens of previously unknown aircraft rising from beneath the Antarctic ice and engaging Thuban ships in the upper atmosphere.
The vehicles looked unlike anything currently operated by Earth’s militaries.
They also had swastikas on them.
That immediately raised several questions.
Unfortunately, the answers were worse.
According to documents released following emergency meetings between world governments and representatives of the newly revealed faction, the group traces its origins to Nazi Germany.
As the Second World War collapsed around them, a contingency of German military officers, scientists, engineers, and political officials reportedly fled Europe aboard experimental submarines and transport vessels.
Their destination was Antarctica.
Specifically, a hidden underground complex constructed beneath the region once claimed by Nazi Germany as Neuschwabenland.
The original plan appears to have been simple.
Hide.
Rebuild.
Wait.
Instead, something considerably stranger happened.
Cut off from the rest of the world, the population expanded deep beneath the Antarctic ice, building a self-contained civilization around geothermal energy, subterranean agriculture, advanced manufacturing, and technology brought south during the final years of the war.
Over the following decades, Neuschwabenland developed independently from surface civilization.
And somehow, while everyone else was working on smartphones and streaming services, the underground Nazis figured out antigravity.
They also developed advanced energy weapons, compact fusion reactors, artificial gravity, high-speed atmospheric craft, orbital detection systems, and several technologies that scientists on the surface are describing as “annoyingly impressive.”
Nobody is happy about this.
“We are currently in the deeply uncomfortable position of admitting that the fascists under Antarctica have better propulsion technology than NASA,” one researcher said. “I do not enjoy saying that sentence.”
The Neuschwabenlanders, as they identify themselves, claim they have known about the Thubans for decades.
Their surveillance systems allegedly detected reptilian activity on Earth as early as the 1950s.
Unlike surface governments, which remained unaware of the infiltration until recently, Neuschwabenland began actively tracking Thuban operatives and reverse-engineering recovered technology.
This eventually led to the development of weapons specifically designed to disrupt Thuban shielding.
That technology has now entered the war.
Its effect was immediate.
Within forty-eight hours of Neuschwabenland’s intervention, multiple Thuban positions were destroyed, three major assault craft were disabled, and a previously secure Thuban supply corridor over the Southern Ocean collapsed entirely.
For the first time in weeks, the balance of the war shifted.
The Astartes noticed.
Their initial reaction was reportedly positive.
Then somebody explained who the newcomers were.
The reaction became more complicated.
Space Marine commanders have spent most of the war referring to the Thubans as xenos, monsters, abominations, and several other terms that military translators have chosen not to reproduce publicly.
Learning that another human civilization had joined the fight initially appeared to improve morale.
Then an officer was shown the flags.
According to one person present during the briefing, the room went silent.
One Astartes commander eventually asked, “What is a Nazi?”
He was given a brief overview of twentieth-century history.
The silence returned.
He then requested a longer overview.
Afterward, the commander reportedly described the situation as “deeply irritating.”
The Imperium of Man is not exactly known for its commitment to liberal democracy, but the Astartes were reportedly unimpressed by the racial ideology, political mythology, and historical ambitions of Neuschwabenland.
For now, both sides have agreed to postpone that particular conversation until after the Thubans are dealt with.
This arrangement is being described as an alliance only in the loosest possible sense.
The Astartes do not trust Neuschwabenland.
Neuschwabenland does not trust the Astartes.
The surface governments do not trust either of them.
The Thubans hate everyone.
And the unidentified psychic whose tychokinesis has already destroyed centuries of reptilian infiltration efforts continues to wander around somewhere causing statistically impossible disasters.
So, overall, diplomacy is going well.
Neuschwabenland officials claim their intervention is motivated primarily by self-preservation.
The Thubans, they say, have known about the Antarctic civilization for years and consider it part of the same human occupation they intend to eliminate.
According to captured communications, Thuban leaders have repeatedly referred to Neuschwabenland as a “surface-derived infestation beneath the ice.”
That apparently offended them.
“We did not spend eighty years building a civilization beneath Antarctica to surrender it to reptiles,” one Neuschwabenland representative said.
Nobody at the meeting felt comfortable applauding.
Still, their technology may be exactly what Earth needs.
The war has reached a near stalemate.
The Astartes remain devastatingly effective in ground combat, but Thuban numbers and advanced spacecraft have prevented them from achieving a decisive victory.
Every time Space Marine forces destroy one position, another appears elsewhere.
Every time the Thubans attempt a major breakthrough, the Astartes respond with overwhelming firepower.
Neither side has been able to push the other off the planet.
Neuschwabenland changes that equation.
Its forces have spent decades studying Thuban weapons and propulsion systems.
Its aircraft can match Thuban fighters.
Its energy weapons can penetrate defensive fields that previously required concentrated Astartes fire.
Most importantly, its commanders already possess detailed maps of suspected Thuban facilities around the world.
Some of those facilities have apparently existed for centuries.
Several governments were surprised to learn that one was located beneath a major international airport.
Another was hidden beneath a luxury resort.
A third had apparently been operating beneath a suburban shopping mall since 1987.
Nobody knows why.
Thuban military analysts now appear to be adjusting their strategy around the Antarctic threat.
Intercepted messages suggest they consider Neuschwabenland significantly more dangerous than surface humanity, though still less dangerous than the Astartes.
The psychic remains in a category of his own.
One Thuban commander reportedly ordered that no operation be conducted unless it had “at least four redundant contingency plans for impossible nonsense.”
Hours later, his ship’s primary weapon malfunctioned because a maintenance technician accidentally installed a component backwards.
The technician insists he did not.
Nobody knows what happened.
For the moment, Earth has survived.
Barely.
The Thubans remain entrenched across several continents.
The Astartes continue grinding them down.
Neuschwabenland aircraft now patrol the skies alongside human and Imperial forces, creating scenes that would have sounded completely insane approximately four months ago.
Then again, four months ago nobody knew the lizard people were real.
Five months ago Vegeta and Nappa were on their way to Earth.
Six months ago humanity had no confirmed knowledge of extraterrestrial life at all.
Things have escalated quickly.
There is already growing concern about what happens if the Thubans are defeated.
Neuschwabenland has spent eighty years hidden beneath Antarctica with advanced weapons, a secret industrial base, and an ideology that nobody on the surface particularly wants reintroduced.
They insist they have no immediate plans to expand beyond their territory.
The word immediate has not reassured anyone.
The Astartes have reportedly begun asking additional questions about them.
Lots of questions.
Very pointed questions.
Several Neuschwabenland officials have noticed.
For now, however, everyone has a common enemy.
The Thuban invasion continues.
Earth needs every weapon it can get.
And so the defense of humanity currently consists of the world’s militaries, an entire chapter of genetically engineered Space Marines, a mysterious probability-manipulating psychic, and a technologically advanced Nazi civilization that has apparently been living under Antarctica since 1945.
Nobody planned this.
Nobody understands it.
At this point, people are just afraid to ask who is going to show up next.