If you've been cruising around the Terminid border planets in Helldivers 2 lately, you might've noticed something weird about the planet Meridia: It's green. Not unheard of in this particular galaxy, but you've gotta understand that Meridia used to be a beautiful shade of blue broken up by fluffy white clouds. It's one of the prettiest locales I've visited in Helldivers 2, or, it was until a few days ago.

Earlier this week, a new patch dropped that came with a monumental major order to turn off the Terminid Control System towers going haywire on the border planets. The “Termicide” gas that divers were led to believe would control the spread of the Terminids in the galaxy has had the opposite effect, exploding the population of bugs on Erata Prime, Fenrir III, and Turing. At the center of it all is Meridia.

“The Terminid control system has failed. Meridia has turned into a supercolony,” the Super Earth announcement read. “Termicide may be causing faster reproduction. The TCS must be deactivated immediately.”

So Meridia has presumably turned green because of this “supercolony,” but that leaves an obvious question: What is it going to look like once we can actually go there? Meridia is currently locked off from missions and, as Redditor Jack_26 has noticed, even its supply lines and attack lanes have disappeared, isolating the planet completely from the galactic war.

The prevailing theory is that we'll be sent to Meridia if we can complete the current major order, which right now, is a big if. In three days the community has only managed to liberate one of the three planets required. Two days remain to finish the job on Turing (it's about halfway liberated as I write this) and pull focus to Erata Prime.

We've lived through surprise attacks and unexpected arrivals of challenging enemies, but never before has a planet been terraformed before our very eyes. If you think the TCS towers condemned by hardened bug excrement are in bad shape, think of what Meridia must be like to look so foul all the way from orbit.

I can't help but think Arrowhead is setting the stage for something relatively major here. Some players are convinced the massive bug pits in the new “Deactivate” mission type is a hint that a powerful enemy from the original Helldivers, the Hive Lord, will soon make a return.

If that day comes, we'll be ready.