The Keep

The Keep was a Keep-class Mobile Base belonging to the Green Drone Armada (GDA) during the Green Drone War. It was then stolen by Captain Jack Roberts and his Colonist Survivors during their time being stranded on an unnamed, GDA-controlled planet.

History
After the Battle of the Colonies and the crash of the Colonist Survivors (CSS)’s flagship, the Vengeance, the surviving crew led by Captain Jack Roberts came across a GDA bunker. They escaped a trap set by the GDA Commander and stole the Keep to flee the facility and establish a hideout, driving around and salvaging crashed starships along the way.

The Colonists used the Keep as their primary transport for their time on that unnamed planet. Over time, they upgraded it with better weapons, cargo space, and interior facilities. The team used the Keep to join RWI (Red Wood Industries) in attacking the GDA’s main base on the planet in order to steal the Artifact and rescue Dr. Craz, Jack’s good friend and second-in-command. The Keep crossed a bridge over a deep gorge and used its new weapons to punch through the GDA’s defenses, allowing the team to storm the base.

However, the RWI Intrepid was shot down by GDA Destroyers and the team retreated, having rescued Craz but failing to seize the Artifact. The team quickly boarded the Keep, rescued the Intrepid’s captain, Sam Reed, and tried to escape back over the bridge. However, the GDA blew up a section of the bridge, trapping the CSS between a canyon and a contingent of GDA ships. The Keep took heavy damage, losing several wheels and turrets in the defense. Thankfully, reinforcements from the RWI Valiant arrived to evacuate the crew, who abandoned the Keep on the bridge as a Green Drone Destroyer used its Superlaser to destroy the vehicle for good. Its remains plummeted into the canyon below.

During the Invasion of P3-X2 many months later, the Colonists, now serving under RWI, hijacked another Keep-class Mobile Base to reinforce the RWI science ship Discovery’s survivors. This vehicle faced off against another of its kind and numerous fighters, but was quickly crippled and abandoned.

Description
The Keep had eight enormous wheels, four on each side. At the front was the bridge/command center, with seats for a pilot, copilot, and four crewmen. The hallway behind it split off three ways - one leading to the central hydrogen and cargo storage area in the middle of the mobile base and the other two leading down the port and starboard sides of the vehicle, which were divided into rooms along the length of the Keep. At the back of the Keep was a folding ramp leading to a hangar bay for a rover to be housed, and on the top deck was a landing pad for a small ship to dock. There was also a cramped production bay and observation balcony on the lower deck near the front, and walkways and ladders to the top deck were scattered around the rover.

The Keep was armed at first with six M-61 Vulcan minigun turrets. As the CSS modified it further, more weaponry included three fixed rocket launcher pods at the front below the bridge, two Gemini AA turrets, a missile turret on the back of the top deck, and a deadly Magnetic Coil Cannon on top. Being a land vehicle, it had no shields, and most of its hull was light armor. Captain Jack also modified it with four atmospheric boosting thrusters to help the Keep accelerate faster and drive uphill easier.