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Little America IV is a lost American research station in Antarctica.

History[]

Early History[]

Built in the 1960s, Little America IV was built out of a section of Antarctica's ice shelf, and was ostensibly intended to be a resource exploration facility looking for off-shore oil deposits. In truth, however, the facility served as a covert chemical weapons laboratory, one whose location easily avoided public view and provided a safety buffer should any chemicals leak out. Among the weapons the researchers at Little America IV worked on was sarin gas and VX poison gas.

Under unknown circumstances around the New Year of 1969, the ice shelf Little America IV was situated on broke off from the larger ice shelf, toppling over and becoming part of a gigantic ice berg. The research station was apparently unoccupied at the time, as the Navy was dispatched to look for the station and had no clue as to where to look, spending an unusually long time searching due to its nature as a weapons lab. After three months, the search for Little America IV was abandoned, and so for the next thirty years, the station remained hidden within its iceberg, floating around the Antarctic coastline.

Ice Station[]

After Shane Schofield and James Renshaw were forced to ditch into the Antarctic waters following their chase with the British SAS, the former realised there was a French submarine nearby targeting Wilkes Ice Station. When the sub fired a torpedo at the Marine when he attempted to plant an explosive on it, a portion of the iceberg behind him was blasted away. Once the sub was dealt with, Schofield and Renshaw wandered around the iceberg before Schofield noticed the outline of a window near where the torpedo had hit.

Breaking through the glass, Schofield found himself in the upside-down remains of Little America IV, identifying it from a remaining banner. Brining Renshaw inside, the Wilkes scientist recalled what he had heard of the lost station, as Schofield uncovered the remains of the chemical weapons lab and deduced Little America IV's true purpose. Once they had recovered enough and prepared some of the leftover scuba gear, Schofield and Renshaw left the station as they swam back to Wilkes.

Later, following the spooling cable Schofield and Renshaw had trailed from Little America IV, Mother was able to swim away from Wilkes before it was struck by a nuclear missile, taking refuge in the abandoned station until a patrol boat pinpointed her location from her GPS transponder.

Facilities[]

Covert Chemical Weapons Laboratory[]

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Trivia[]

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