Battle of Icarus

The Battle of Icarus was one of the most crucial battles of the Green Drone War. It occurred when the GDA Commander launched a large attack fleet at the planet Icarus, the capital world of RWI (Red Wood Industries), and struck Cyrus Station and the shipyards in orbit, the Capital City, and the RWI Research and Development Center, the Black Vault, which contained the Artifact. The Artifact was the main objective of the GDA (Green Drone Armada), as they believed it would lead them to conquer the galaxy using its ancient powers.

Prelude
During the Battle of Ravcor, a strike team led by Captain Jack Roberts and Captain Jonathan Hunter of Red Wood Industries assaulted the GDA base on the lava planet Ravcor and stole the Artifact from it. Though the Daedalus-class Battleship, the RWI Valiant, was heavily damaged and Hunter was wounded in the escape attempt, the Artifact managed to escape some time later to Icarus during the Battle of Demus. The Artifact was transferred from Jack’s ship, the RWI Eclipse, to the RWI Discovery, which took both the Artifact and the Valiant’s crew back to Icarus. It was then taken to the Black Vault facility and researched vigorously by Dr. Colt until the GDA attacked a few weeks later.

The Space Battle
When Captain Jack and RWI’s leader, Grand Admiral Adam Williams left to attack a GDA shipyard facility over Demus, taking the flagship Apollo and a handful of ships, the GDA Commander authorized his fleet to move in and strike Icarus’s shipyards and orbital stations. The home fleet was completely taken by surprise and several ships were lost before Admiral Isaac Sheppard of the RWI Osiris took command and sent a distress call to all RWI forces. Admiral Williams and Captain Jack received the signal and rushed back to Icarus at best speed.

When the Apollo, Defender-class Frigate Tigris, and Phoenix-class Assault Frigates Aegis Fate and Pursuit arrived, the Osiris and Cyrus Station had been seriously damaged and many ships had been lost. The Dreadnought and at least six other destroyers were lying in wait for the reinforcements, but the Dreadnought used its FTL drive and jumped away to a different area of the planet. The additional destroyers were soon destroyed, but so were the Pursuit and Aegis Fate.

The Ground Assault
Grand Admiral Williams received news that the Capital City’s defense grid was offline and the city was under siege by a GDA Destroyer, Falcon-class Fighters, and many ground units. The RWI defense troops, despite having access to a Rhino-class Mobile Base, Marauder-class Rovers, and a number of fighters and soldiers, were being pushed back from key buildings. A Phoenix-class frigate was crashed in the city central park land several buildings had been demolished.

Captain Roberts and his crew were sent down in Valkyrie-class Gunships in order to secure vital data files in the RWI HQ building. One dropship containing Jack, Finn, Castle, and Bashful, was shot down en route, crashing near the city center. The second gunship containing Craz, Owen, Mors, and Finchy landed near the city walls and proceeded across the city to a hijacked anti-aircraft gun in order to destroy it. The two teams made their way across the city and accomplished their objectives, taking down any drone sentry units they came across. After the AA cannon was destroyed, the teams met up in the RWI command building and secured the data within.

At this point, more RWI ships had shown up to reinforce the Apollo. The RWI Charon was immediately sent to the city and it destroyed the enemy destroyer in the skies above. Groups of V-203s picked off any remaining Green Drone fighters left in the vicinity, and more ships were deployed around the planet to deal with straggling GDA ships.

However, an urgent report from Commander Sam Reed, who had taken a group of marines to defend the Black Vault, informed Williams and his first officer, Commander Edwards, that the Black Vault was being attacked by the Commander and his Dreadnought, and all contact with the marines and the scientists within the Vault was soon lost. Williams immediately ordered Jack’s team to divert to the Osiris for a counter strike.

Fifty minutes after the Vault went dark, Admiral Sheppard gave Jack a set of access codes for the Vault and the V-203 fighters of Phoenix Squadron as well as the RWI Liberty for support. Jack, Craz, Owen, and Ler flew the fighters while the rest of the crew traveled to the facility via dropship. The Liberty engaged the Dreadnought outside the base’s landing platform, and though Ler was shot down by enemy fighters, the whole team managed to make it to the base. Unfortunately, the Liberty was annihilated by the Dreadnought’s four Atlas Lasers, leaving the team without support.

The Black Vault
While the team infiltrated the facility and fought their way to the Artifact’s containment chamber, Williams was informed that all GDA ships except the Dreadnought had been destroyed. Williams deployed the Tigris and a few other ships to occupy the Dreadnought. Jack’s team managed to recover Reed and find the injured Dr. Colt, who updated the captain on his findings about the Artifact.

Jack attempted to stop the Commander as he took the Artifact to a shuttle craft in the back hangar of the Black Vault, but he was too late. The shuttle took off and docked with the Dreadnought before the reinforcing ships arrived. As the Dreadnought made a break for space, Williams dispatched the RWI Bishop and RWI Goddard to stop the ship before it could jump to hyperspace with the Artifact. Both ships were destroyed, and at the advice of Edwards, Williams ordered the Apollo to fire its tactical warheads and broke off. The missiles didn’t hit before the Dreadnought escaped. The Battle of Icarus was over with the Artifact’s escape.

The Aftermath
The Battle left Icarus’s shipyards in ruins. Many lives had been lost through the destruction of multiple ships and buildings. It took RWI much time to rebuild and restart its shipyards.

Somehow, the RWI Eclipse hadn’t been damaged in the attack, and Williams dispatched Jack and his crew to investigate a strange signal emanating from DRF (Drone Reactionary Force) space, though the DRF had long since been out of the conflict and the signal was revealed to be coming from Papple, a teammate of Jack’s who had been presumed dead since the Battle of Ravcor.

Despite the damage done, RWI managed to build and congregate numerous vessels, including a Daedalus-class Battleship outfitted with experimental weaponry, the RWI Zheng-He, in order to turn the tables and invade the GDA stronghold world of P3-X2, and later attack the GDA Super-Dreadnought at the Battle of the Black Hole to destroy the Artifact and the GDA to end the war once and for all.