A recon squad descends into frozen lava shafts to tag the source of a buried alien lattice.

The enemy grows through the rock, and one soldier’s panic is surgically erased so the mission can continue.

The deeper they move, the tunnels narrow, comms fail, and the lattice opens into a vast living chasm below the planet’s crust. What looked like an infestation becomes something larger: a designed template spreading from world to world. With beacon charges placed and orbital fire inbound, the squad is trapped on the ledge while the altered soldier steps onto the enemy’s living structure below.

This is "Deep Strike Recon" by Sascha Schmidt