Keldrin Pass Facility - Midnight Plus Seven Minutes
The tripled gravity lasted exactly four seconds before someone—multiple someones—among the Liberator forces activated counter-techniques. Pressure manipulation met pressure manipulation. Earth Uncos users altered local gravitational fields. Enhancement specialists pushed through the resistance with raw strength that made physics reluctant rather than impossible.
The atmospheric weight lifted fractionally—not eliminated but reduced from crushing to merely oppressive. Movement became difficult rather than impossible. Combat shifted from frozen standoff back to active engagement in the space between one heartbeat and the next.
"All teams—complete your objectives!" Commander Voss's voice carried across the facility through communication artifact, brass edge to the tone suggesting he'd anticipated exactly this complication. "Executives present changes tactics, doesn't change mission! Finish what we came to do!"
