Mission 10 - Daedalus

## 10 - Daedalus

The Azrati Order covertly enters the Caribou System...

## Belligerents

* Azrati Order

* EIRA Institute

* Sylon Collective

## Commanders

* Adikara
* Zeraphim

* Unknown Chief Operating Officer

* Unknown Sylon Praetor

## Forces

* Intruder strike craft
* Warpglider corvettes
* Azrati Gathering
* Shagua

* Local defenses including KEIKO Sentries and Orca corvettes

* Basic Drone vessels, including Spears and Twinblades
* Automated defenses including Aegises and Pillboxes

## Objectives

* Extract the Keystone from the EIRA Facility.

* Guard the EIRA Facility at all costs.

* Eliminate all hostile forces.

## Casualties and losses

Minimal
Substantial
Substantial

## Involved Characters

* Adikara
* Zeraphim

*Daedalus* (named after the Icarus cargo ship mentioned in *Bear Rock*) is the tenth mission in Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors in the Five Nations campaign. It's also the first playable mission in the campaign as the Athraels (Although, in lore chronology, the first time would actually be *The Deal* in Prelude - Calm Before the Storm).

## Setting

As the United Federation was fighting off the Sylon Collective in the Sol System, around the same period on which Benjamin Colburne was helping break the siege of the Tereshkova Station, the Athrael Azrati Order under High One Zeraphim had just arrived to the Caribou System.  The Azrati Order, assigned by Patriarch Cesral to search for any artifacts or marks belonging to their Architect creators, had only found very few after over a millenia of searching, but recently an Explorer drone found and identified a stellar relic called a Keystone, which can open gateways to other star systems, even possibly the Architects' home system.  The Keystone was reported having been found by the humans' Unicorp mining teams while mining near the system's gas giant Eridu and transported to a remote research facility in the Thalassa Sector, revealed to be a clandestine branch of the EIRA Institute.

To assist in the journey, Zeraphim asked for Adikara of the Annaki Order to be his wartime consultant, as the gene pool from which she was created possessed the most capable of tactical skills.  Although Adikara herself expressed concerns on the humans' eventual retaliation for attacking the facility, Zeraphim calmed her by pointing the humans have provoked the Sylons, and thus were 'doomed'.

## Baptism of Fire

The Azrati Order's expedition, which included Zeraphim's command vessel, the Theocrat-class Shagua, a Gathering expansionist vessel and some escorts in the form of Intruder strike craft and Warpglider corvettes, arrived to the Thalassa Sector to readily find it riddled with patrolling and blockading Sylon forces, to which Adikara warned Zeraphim, but the High One insisted on the mission, stating this just meant they would have to be faster.

Thus, Adikara pressed on with the advance throughout the perfidious asteroid fields and nebulae while fighting off the Sylon blockades, with the Shagua providing assistance with it's antimatter clouds which caused devastation to the Sylons' ships and stations.  Even the Gathering ended up contributing in the battle at one point, it's shielding providing cover against enemy fire as the Warpgliders fired from behind it.

Eventually the Azrati expedition reached the EIRA Institute facility, where it's defenders were neutralized and the Keystone was recovered.  The Azrati priests started then a ritual to use the Keystone, opening a wormhole leading to where-ever it would lead the expedition to...

## Walkthrough

The player will start in command of the Shagua, a Gathering that must be escorted as well, a few Intruders and some Warpgliders.  The player should take the initial time of the mission to familiarize with each of the units, that are definitely different from those of the Federation played with so far.  The Intruder, possessing shields, is more durable than Hurricanes and it's attack, which is stronger against hull, makes it a more reliable fighter.  However the Warpglider, while possessing a faster attack than Orcas, is also weaker in firepower and fragile, so caution should be taken when using them in battle.

The Shagua itself has some serviceable attacks, especially neutron torpedoes that can neutralize important targets such as Twinblades or Aegises, as well as it's Forced Shield ability that increases the regeneration rate of shields, but it will shine best with it's use of antimatter clouds that cause strong damage to groups of units and installations, being useful to weaken defenses or groups for the Warpgliders and Intruders to finish off.  The Gathering, on the other hand, possesses a good shield and hull count which will be useful for tanking damage, but the player must remember the Gathering must survive as much as the Shagua or the mission will be failed.

The best path for the player to take all forces, after the confrontation with the initial group of Spears and Twinblades, should be to the south and then, after crossing a stellar cloud, to the east.  The way to the south will face some manageable resistance in the form of an Aegis, barricaded by Support Centers, which the Intruders can fly through and shoot it down, as well as some Spears past the stellar cloud.  If the player did follow this direction, it'll come across a Pillbox guarding some small destructible asteroids blocking a narrow passage between the radioactive nebula which the player can be rid of with the Warpgliders.  Note that it may require some proper micromanagement to navigate all ships through this narrow passage to avoid them taking damage from the nebula.  Though the player can take the northern path, with more open space for maneuvering, it's doubtlessly more guarded by Sylon barricades and defenses.

From there, the EIRA Station should be to the northeast of the player's strike force, guarded by a single KEIKO Sentry and a few Orcas.  The player would best send forward the Gathering, given it's high shield and hull count, with the Shagua using it's Forced Shield ability to make it's shielding last longer, as the Warpgliders and Intruders shoot down the defenders.  From there, the player needs only send both the Shagua and the Gathering to the EIRA Station's assigned position, ending the mission.

## Background and Conclusions

The mission's name - *Daedalus* - plus the mentioned Thalassa sector and the EIRA facilities present all elaborate the true cargo of the Icarus cargo ship mentioned by Salamon Zamor in *Bear Rock*, which was the Keystone itself.  This also presents the possibility Unicorp was probably comissioned by the EIRA Institute to establish the UX22A and 22B facilities for the sole purpose of recovering the Keystone.

This EIRA Station was also apparently not registered within the United Federation's Caribou System database, clearly implicating clandestine operations were taking place.

Taking into account the EIRA information in possession of the Black Swan, it also explains the reasons behind the attacks at the UX facilities in both *Distress Call* and *The Cavalry has Arrived*, and the commitment of several of their forces even if they were to be defeated by Benjamin Colburne, nevertheless.  Zamor and the Black Swan were after the Keystone, given that either the potential of the artifact would prove more potent than the Jumpgate they utilized or the sole fact that whatever technology EIRA possessed was far more valuable.

This also ties in with the circumstances surrounding Edvin McLain's - the director of the UX facilities - suicide, whose post was replaced by Vera Vargas. Apparently McLain was fully aware of both the Keystone, the *Daedalus* and the EIRA Facility, and thus took his life when the Black Swan attacked, aware he'd be captured and interrogated.