The Battle of the Colonies

The Battle of the Colonies was the final battle between the two warring colonies, the Colonist Survivors led by Captain Jack Roberts, a former RWI (Red Wood Industries) officer, and a group of the DRF (Drone Reactionary Force) led by Arron. The battle ultimately ended in a stalemate, as the GDA (Green Drone Armada) emerged and defeated the remaining ships of each faction. Even though the CSS and DRF tried to stand together, the DRF Flagship Exturtle and the CSS Avalon were destroyed and the CSS Vengeance was lost in hyperspace, as it had jumped to an unknown system. This signaled the end of the Colony War and the beginning of the Green Drone War. Outside of the story, this battle was the finale of the series 'Space Engineers: Colony Wars' and the beginning of the next season, 'Space Engineers: Colony Lost'.

Prelude to War
Prior to the Battle of the Colonies, the main base of the Colonists, Watchtower Station, was attacked by the Green Drone Armada. The GDA was a mysterious drone faction that had been waiting to unleash its war machine on the galaxy. It had been encountered by both colonies and had been skirmishing with them for several weeks leading up to the battle. Three GDA Destroyers assaulted Watchtower, prompting Captain Jack Roberts to order the evacuation, as they didn’t have enough firepower to match them. The Colonists’ entire fleet managed to escape, except for their landing ship, the Pioneer, and a handful of small support vessels.

Elsewhere in the orbit of P3-X2, the desert planet nearby, the DRF fleet was also amassing to strike the Colonists, but they were met first by the fleeing CSS fleet, who decided to prepare to make a last-ditch effort to destroy the DRF, once and for all.

The Battle Begins
The two fleets formed up and faced off for several minutes before the first shots were fired. The DRF’s lighter ships, the corvettes and frigates built by Papple, went in first, micro-jumping closer to the Colonists and gradually picking away at their armor. However, the Colonists maintained their tight formation, linking their weapons to shred the ships, one by one. By the time the DRF flagship, the hybrid battleship Exturtle, joined the fight, most of the DRF support fleet had been destroyed, with minimal damage to most of the CSS fleet.

Things started to go downhill for the CSS, however, when the Exturtle engaged. It used its many coil cannons, Mk3 Battleship Cannons, and Mk1 and Mk2 Artillery batteries to bombard the Colonists from afar. Only the CSS flagship, the Vengeance, could match its range with its X-3 Heavy Cannon. All of the Colonists’ ships were hit several times by the Exturtle and a few other reinforcing DRF ships, which were heavier and more heavily armed than the first wave ships. Most ships engaged each other in one-on-one combat, with the victors always taking heavy damage and the losers either being forced to retreat, be reinforced by an ally, or be completely destroyed.

As the battle dragged on, the ships continued to pick away at each other. Eventually, all the DRF ships except the Exturtle, were tracked down and eliminated. The Colonists had also taken significant losses - all of their ships except the Vengeance and the Avalon were destroyed, abandoned, or crashed on the surface of P3-X2.

The Unexpected Enemy
As the Vengeance and Avalon prepared to face off against the Exturtle one last time, the Colonist crew member Mr. Castle scanned five GDA destroyers approaching the ships. Captain Jack ordered the Vengeance and Avalon to ignore the Exturtle and prepare to defend themselves against the GDA ships. To their relief, the Exturtle also left them alone and turned to face the destroyers.

The combined firepower of the Avalon and Vengeance’s remaining coil cannons managed to disable the Atlas Superlaser on one destroyer’s bow, but another one blasted the Vengeance’s port side thrusters. As former RCSP (Royal Coalition of Spatial Protection) Commander Venom piloted the Avalon towards the ships to distract them, two other destroyers targeted the Exturtle, causing heavy damage. Its four remaining coil cannons fired a salvo back at one destroyer, obliterating its bow.

The Avalon swerved around to finish it off, but was being targeted by a fourth destroyer. Jack urged Venom to break off, but Venom refused and said farewell to Jack as the Atlas Laser carved through the corvette, splitting it into several pieces. Soon after, the Exturtle finally fell to the superior firepower and was annihilated, leaving only the Vengeance. The Vengeance continued to take more and more laser fire, which caused more and more systems to go critical and shut down. Feeling defeated, Jack prepared to say his goodbyes to Castle and Finn before the remaining FTL drives started charging. Dr. Craz, who had been in the engine room, had initiated the jump protocols in a desperate effort to save the ship. As the Vengeance was warped into the unknown, the GDA stood victorious and took complete control of the planet and established a base in Watchtower Station.

Aftermath
The Vengeance’s wreckage, as well as pieces of the DRF flagship and several frigates, ended up crashing on the surface of an unnamed planet. Jack, Finn, Castle, and a few other Colonists managed to survive and rescue a handful of other survivors around the valley of crashed starships, including DRF members Papple and Finchy. Craz had somehow been abducted by the GDA during or after the Vengeance’s crash, prompting the team to abandon the Vengeance’s crash site and set about rescuing him. At an unknown time, Venom, who had somehow survived the explosion of the Avalon, was also recovered by RCSP and rejoined their ranks.

Many months later, Captain Jack, now officially back with RWI and in command of the science corvette, the RWI Eclipse, returned to P3-X2 in order to secure a jump point for the impending RWI and CNL (Crazy North Logistics) invasion fleet. Before the battle, they journeyed to the site of the Battle of the Colonies and found the remains of many of their ships and the DRF ships. They also traveled to Watchtower and disabled the GDA’s defenses on board, clearing the way for the invasion force. On the surface of the planet, the team found the rusty remains of a CNL cruiser that resembled the one modified by Craz for their fleet. After the war’s end, Finn and Castle set up a small salvage organization and ended up traveling back to the Vengeance’s crash site.

The Colonists
The Colonists’ initial formation was kept tight and compact, in order to maximize the amount of firepower on individual DRF ships. However, this led to minor collisions on several occasions.

The pilots of each ship were selected before the fleet jumped to the battle coordinates. Jack took Finn and Castle aboard the Vengeance to man turrets and repair systems while he piloted the warship. Craz, of course, took command of his CNL Cruiser and Horza joined him to main the coil cannons, and Venom took command of one of the two Avalon-class Corvettes, the Avalon. Jack also assigned Ler to the Dawnbreaker, Chris to the Farragut, Jerrai to the Gauntlet, and Parajointz to the Odin (the second corvette).