It looks like we'll get to see what'll happen to Meridia soon, too, given the progress Super Earth forces have already made on this directive.
Ok, so Helldivers 2 got a fresh Major Order yesterday, and it looks like it could well kick off the chain of events that leads to the Illuminate finally showing up in game, following plenty of speculation. Or, at least that's what a lot of players think could happen if they manage to let Super Earth's scientists unleash some Dark Fluid on Meridia.
Yeah, it would seem that, following the arrival of the dual-autocannon EXO-49 Emancipator exosuit as a reward for the game's community successfully completing its previous mission directive from Arrowhead, things aren't about to get any less exciting any time soon. Even if none of the interesting stratagem pitches former CEO Johan Pilestedt was soliciting the other day happen to become a reality in the next little bit.
So, what is this latest Major Order? Well, it's about securing three planets - Fenrir 3, Angel's Venture, and Turing - clearing a path so that Super Earth scientists can target the Terminind supercolony on Meridia with some weaponised "Dark Fluid". So far, so quite normal, though as the tweet from Arrowhead that accompanied the order's arrival revealed, this fluid is, er, a bit dangerous, having already caused some scientists to be "spaghettified" by a mini-black hole.
Yup, it's looking like if this order is successful - something that seems pretty likely, with both Fenrir 3 and Angel's Venture already under Super Earth control, while Turing sits at around 50% liberated - the result could well be Meridia having a black hole unleashed upon it. Hey, it's one way to get rid of some bugs, I guess.
How would that connect to the Illuminate potentially arriving after all the hype? Well, as the order's description mentions, the Dark Fluid itself is "synthesised exotic matter liberated from the Illuminate following the First Galactic War".
So, connecting the dots, the predominant theory among Helldivers 1 vets on Reddit looks to be this - the black hole this fluid deployment on Meridia could open up will just turn out to be a portal that the Illuminate'll glide straight through, probably demanding to know what we're all playing at. It might not be that simple, with another idea being floated on the game's Discord server being the Meridia incident just setting off some kind of energy signal that summons the Illuminate, but folks seem pretty set on it happening either way.
We'll just have to see how things play out once/if Turing falls, which looks like it could happen in about 14 hours if current efforts are kept up. In the meantime, if you've been getting kicked out of Helldivers 2 sessions right before a mission ends, Arrowhead is "working on a solution" to that issue.