Second Battle of the Old Colony Base

The Second Battle of the Old Colony Base was the first engagement in the Colony War between the CSS (Colonist Survivors) and the DRF (Drone Reactionary Force). Though it was a short battle with relatively weak assets on both sides, it was the first time the CSS and DRF forces fought once the Colony War started. The battle was ultimately a draw, with both sides losing several vehicles and neither side gaining any territory.

Prelude
After the extensive Cold War between the CSS and DRF came to a close at the Battle of Watchtower Station a few days earlier, the remaining CSS crew, consisting of former RWI (Red Wood Industries) Captain Jack Roberts, former CNL (Crazy North Logistics) Commander Craz, former RCSP (Royal Coalition of Spatial Protection) Commander Venom, and crew members Typhun and Finn, began salvaging their crashed vessel, the CSS Dawn, with the help of once-missing crew member iValz and several new additions to the crew. They built up a base, which was soon named "New Dawn Base," and soon began building a collection of small vehicles, both ground and aerial.

Meanwhile, the other half of the original CSS crew had managed to successfully sabotage the DRF Hive HQ in orbit and caused it to crash on the planet as well, but were either killed or brainwashed into joining the DRF by its leader Arron, who survived the crash along with multiple other once-human survivors. They also began building a handful of small support drone ships and a large flying mobile base called the Harambarry.

The Battle Begins
At some point, each faction received coordinates to an unknown location a short distance away from their bases. Both factions and their troops loaded up into their vehicles and traveled to the location at the same time. The CSS set up a small medical outpost a short distance away from the coordinates, which they soon discovered was the location of their old colony base which they had lost to the DRF a long time before and was mostly destroyed in the First Battle of the Old Colony Base several days ago. The Colonists' two shuttles, the Scarab and the Beetle, and the DRF's smaller drones flew around the area and engaged each other while the Harambarry fired down on the CSS's rovers, the Reaper and the Battle-Worm, destroying the Reaper when Captain Roberts stopped to pick up Faz, the pilot of the crashed Beetle. Typhun and Venom were soon shot down in the Scarab and iValz's Battle-Worm temporarily retreated for repairs, and the other Colonists ran to the Old Colony Base on foot and took cover.

The Harambarry fired down into the base and one of the drone ships, the Hunter-Killer drone Cilit-Bang, flew inside the underground hangars to drive out the Colonists, who took cover in the medical and cryo bay under the main base. Believing that the CSS had been taken care of, the Harambarry and any remaining drones withdrew back to their base, but the Colonists destroyed the Cilit-Bang. Captain Roberts took note of which direction the Harambarry retreated so they could find the DRF base later. To everyone's surprise, the CSS's old Wyvern-class Gunship was inside the underground hangars, mostly intact. This was a mystery to them, as the last time they'd been at the base, it had been under DRF control and the Wyvern was nowhere to be found inside it. Nevertheless, the Colonists all hastily repaired and boarded the ship, picked up the Battle-Worm, and retreated back to New Dawn Base.

Aftermath
The discovery of the Old Colony Base being directly in between the two faction's bases led to the ruined base becoming the main fighting ground for future battles in the war. Despite taking a slightly different path back to New Dawn Base, the Colonists were followed by former crew member Finchy, who had been sent aboard the Hive and was captured and brainwashed into joining the DRF. Finchy followed them in his rover-tank and lured the Wyvern out, damaging it and causing it to crash-land into the nearby ice lake, although it was repaired later.

Several days later, a small band of pirates raided the planet, causing some damage to the DRF base and nearly wiping out a group of other colonists located elsewhere on the planet. The survivors of that attack, Horza and Ler, were rescued by the CSS shortly after. Both factions also began building up larger warships to attack each other, although the next major battle, the Battle of New Dawn Base, would not occur for some time.

Behind-the-Scenes
The Second Battle of the Old Colony Base takes place in Episode 9 of 'Space Engineers: Colony Wars,' the second series in the Colony Universe, and is the first battle fought in that series.