Half-Life: Opposing Force storyline

"Government cover-ups were not in my job description!"

- HECU soldier

This article describes the Half-Life: Opposing Force storyline, chapter by chapter. Warning: this page contains spoilers.

Boot Camp (optional)


The training chapter of Opposing Force. Adrian Shephard is bunked to the top of the Advanced Training list. Shephard and his comrades are trained by Dwight T. Barnes, Marine Drill Instructor, in Santego Military Base, Arizona. He works his way through the training exercises overlooked by Drill Instructor Sharpe until he is ready for the field.

Trivia
Easter Egg: in the dormitory where the level starts, each trunk bears the name of a Gearbox employee, such as Randy Pitchford, Stephen Bahl, Rob Heironimus, David Mertz, Landon Montgomery, Patrick Deupree, John Faulkenbury, etc., mirroring the Easter Egg from Half-Life in the locker rooms of the Sector C of Black Mesa.

Introduction


Before the first chapter of Half-Life: Opposing Force, a short introduction is shown. As Adrian Shephard and his fellow HECU comrades are approaching the LZ (Landing Zone 117) at the Black Mesa Research Facility, his plane (codenamed Goose 7) is shot down by Xen Manta Rays, along with several other V-22 Ospreys (the first one is codenamed Goose 3). The rest of the opening sequence consists of Shephard continually losing and regaining consciousness, seeing conflict between the Xen aliens and the Marines who survived the crash.

Welcome to Black Mesa


After the crash of his V-22 Osprey, Adrian Shephard regains consciousness completely in an infirmary, not too far off from the crash site. He leaves the infirmary, learning that the other Marines who had survived the crash had been killed by the aliens. He makes his way towards the extraction point, where he is told via radio that the military forces are pulling out of the facility.

We Are Pulling Out


Details Adrian Shephard's attempt to reach the HECU's extraction point to escape Black Mesa. He has first eye contact with the mysterious Race X that seems to be collecting humans for study in their world. Shephard reaches the extraction point, but is deliberately left behind due to the G-Man's actions.

Missing in Action


Details Adrian Shephard's continued journey through Black Mesa in search of both his comrades and an alternative escape route after being abandoned at the extraction point. After traveling through a zombie-infested blast furnace, Shephard meets several other Marines from his company who have also been left behind. He joins forces with them as they try to escape from the facility.

Friendly Fire


Details Adrian Shephard and other HECU soldier's attempt to find and use an old transit system to escape to the Lambda Core, after battling through an office complex filled with aliens. It is also the chapter in which the Black Ops are first introduced. Shephard comes across them in a hangar where they are loading a nuclear warhead into the back of a truck. This is where we learn that the Black Ops soldiers have been sent to kill the remaining HECU Marines and cover up the Black Mesa incident. Shephard meets up with several other surviving marines and fights the Black Ops, eventually reaching an underground railway system that leads to the Lambda complex.

We Are Not Alone


It serves as a short interlude in the game with reminders of events from the original Half-Life. Arrived at the Lambda complex, Adrian Shephard sees Gordon Freeman teleported to Xen. Shephard is also forced to travel through Xen to find a way out of the Lambda complex.

Crush Depth


In it, Adrian Shephard finds himself in underwater laboratories where several Ichthyosaurs are being held. After making his way through the labs, Shephard is again forced to teleport to Xen and back again to reach a new part of Black Mesa.

Vicarious Reality


Adrian Shephard is traveling between various biosphere chambers and laboratories featuring massive terrariums used to house Xen fauna being studied by the scientists deep within the Sector E Biodome Complex. Eventually he reaches an older industrial area, and picks up a radio transmission from a group of Marines fighting some kind of massive creature.

Pit Worm's Nest


Details Adrian Shephard's battle with the monstrous Pit Worm blocking his progress in an industrial waste-processing area of Black Mesa. Working his way through the surrounding area (littered with the corpses of the Marines who sent the distress signal in the previous chapter), Shephard manages to dump toxic waste on the Pit Worm, killing it and allowing him to access the next area.

Foxtrot Uniform


Details the fierce battle raging between the Race X creatures, the Black Ops contingent, including several snipers, and the remnants of the HECU in the last hours of the Black Mesa Incident. Adrian Shephard makes his way through the underground canals and sewers of Black Mesa, fighting through a Voltigore nest, and arrives at the hydroelectric dam featured in the first game. Here, a Gargantua has been trapped on top of the dam and several Marines are attempting to kill it. Shephard uses explosives to destroy the creature and leaves the area through the dam's exposed water pipes.

Trivia

 * This chapter is very similar to the Surface Tension chapter from the original Half-Life.


 * The name of the chapter is based off the NATO phonetic alphabet, Foxtrot being "F" and Uniform being "U". This is a euphemism for "Fucked Up".

The Package


Details Adrian Shephard's discovery of the mysterious Black Ops' plan for Black Mesa. He finds them in an underground parking garage, activating the thermonuclear warhead from the fourth chapter, apparently with the intent of destroying the facility. Shephard kills them and deactivates the nuclear bomb, but later sees the G-Man reactivating it. Adding to the Black Ops, Shephard must face heavy artillery, a black AH-64 Apache and Shock Troopers.

Worlds Collide


After making his way through warehouses filled with Race X creatures and Black Ops fighting, Adrian Shephard arrives at an old industrial area of Black Mesa where an enormous Gene Worm is attempting to come through a portal from the Race X homeworld. Shephard uses mounted laser weapons to blind and kill it; in its death throes, an enormous teleportation portal spreads outwards and envelops him.

Shephard regains consciousness inside a V-22 Osprey, confronted by the mysterious G-Man. As the G-Man talks to Shephard a white flash occurs in the distance, indicating that Black Mesa has been destroyed by the nuclear warhead. The G-Man then informs Shephard that he will be detained "in a place where you can do no possible harm, and where no harm can come to you." He explains this is done since Shepard reminds him of himself, but is still a dangerous witness. The G-Man walks into a portal, Shephard is put into stasis and the end credits roll.

Trivia
The ending sequence mirrors the original Half-life ending sequence.