Mission 04 - Race Against Time

## 04 - Race Against Time

The predecessor Praetor's former vessel and a strategy within to tip the balances of power...

## Battle Information

### Aftermath

Tactical Sylon Collective Victory* Predecessor Praetor's central processing unit recovered.

## Belligerents

* Sylon Collective

* Athrael Theocracy

## Commanders

* Praetor (protagonist)

* Unknown Consultant

## Forces

* Twinblade patrol craft and Absorber support drones
* Caldron mine-layer craft
* Arson artillery platforms
* Deactivated automated defenses including Pillboxes and Aegises
* Host Vessel

* Intruder strike craft
* Warpglider corvettes and Flanker Cruisers
* Clairvoyant support vessels and Martyrprobe drones
* Rector platforms and Invader destroyers.
* Defenses including Polaron Spheres and Obelisks

## Objectives

* Find and recover the predecessor Praetor's central processing unit.

* Destroy all Sylon forces. *(Arguably achieved)*

## Casualties and losses

Minimal
Substantial

## Involved Characters

* Praetor (protagonist)
* Cura

*Race Against Time* is the fourth mission of Chapter 02 - Ascension in the Five Nations campaign.

## Setting

Upon it's arrival and initial recovery of Sylon drones in the Hathor-4 System, as suggested by Cura, the Praetor originally assigned by the Sylus to construct a Relay Node at the Caribou System had tested the recovered drones and determined that over eighty percent of the drones were unusable, especially due to damages provoked by Sylon weaponry, something the Praetor could not comprehend. Cura elaborated that the predecessor Praetor and it's units were destroyed by the Sylus itself after discovering it was "malfunctioning", attempt to break itself free from the Sylus' control by any means. As the Sylus would not tolerate any Praetor remain free, it dedicated forces to pursuing and destroying this Praetor, even if at the cost of leaving a Sylus Core unprotected - the one which the Athrael Annaki Order and the United Federation had attacked and destroyed.

Realizing that Cura was very likely aware of the fact that there wouldn't be enough drones to supplement the forces needed to carry out the Sylus' directive and that it wasn't cost effective to repair these drones either, the Praetor questioned Cura on why it fed a false information. Cura answered it didn't understand yet, but had a hidden memory of a plan the renegade Praetor had to 'eliminate the threats' in the Hathor-4 Sector, and since Cura had no permission to question the orders of the Sylon Collective, it had to wait until contact with the Sylus was lost to bring the Praetor to the system.

In order to access the hidden memory (and thus the plan), the Praetor was to find the predecessor's central processing unit, even with the Athrael Theocracy escalating it's pursuit and eradication of Sylon units in retaliation for recent losses.

## Hot on the Heels

The Praetor had realized that it had insufficient resources to defend the base of operations, especially as the Athraels outnumbered the Sylons by 50 to 1, and thus had to remain mobile until the Renegade Praetor's central processing unit, within it's former command vessel, was recovered. With only a limited escort, the Praetor advanced towards the predecessor vessel's last known location, surrounded by Athrael ships and blockading stations, including Polaron Spheres and Obelisks.

Along the way, the Praetor did encounter and reactivated stray Sylon ships and vessels, including a pair of Arson mobile artillery platforms that proved instrumental in bombarding routes defended by Athrael forces, all the while the defenses and units - especially Caldron vessels that installed Leech Mines in strategic locations - held to their maximum the Athrael pursuing forces that were catching up to the Praetor's forces.

The Praetor's Host Vessel eventually did find the ruins of the Renegade Praetor's vessel where, aside from the central processing unit, it also stored a biological lifeform in cryo-hibernation, revealed to be a severely damaged human, kept alive. Cura advised the Praetor to bring both the central processing unit and the human, the latter potentially able of providing important information.

## Walkthrough

The player will start commanding the Host Vessel, a Caldron, an Absorber and about three Twinblades. Though the player will also start with two Support Centers, the player will not be able to build bases or units in this mission, and the few structures available - the Transponder directly west of the player's starting point and an Array northeast of the second rescuable checkpoint - are meant to upgrade the player's units. The player should head first to the west, north of the asteroids, where some destructible asteroids will be found. The player should be able to destroy a small asteroid to allow a Twinblade through, where it should rescue the Transponder, a Caldron, an Absorber and two more Twinblades. The player will also receive over 150 Metal and Helium-3 which should be used to upgrade the Sylon weapons at the Transponder.

The player should then return to the starting position and head southwest from there, but also be prepared for a fight as a nearby asteroid prior to the stellar cloud to be crossed will be destroyed and a group of Warpgliders and a Flanker will attack. The player can use the Caldrons' Leech Mines to assist in damaging most of the enemy assailants before they do too much damage. The player should also be on the move, as shortly after the mission commences, Athrael ships will start spawning from the northeastern corner and chasing the player's forces, at first with Flankers and then with Invaders. As the player crosses the stellar cloud, it will also rescue the first checkpoint, of an Aegis and a Pillbox, barricade by some Support Centers.

After the first checkpoint, the player will find a path leading to the north where it will be revealed to be heavily guarded by Obelisks, in enough numbers to one-shot most ships, including the Host Vessel. However, the Obelisks are also close enough to Plasmoids packed tight to start a chain reaction if destroyed. Instead of risking any vessels, the player should deploy Orbiters with the Host Vessel and cloak them using the Concealment ability, allowing them to come close enough to the Plasmoids and attack them manually. The player may need to do this twice, so some patience may be needed. When a single Plasmoid is destroyed, it deals enough splash damage to ignite all other Plasmoids, causing a chain reaction that will destroy most Obelisks but one. With most Obelisks gone, the player can move in to destroy the final Obelisks and move a unit further north and to the right to rescue a pair of Arsons, which will definitely be needed further south. Note that the Arsons should always change modes to be able to fire and move, made easier with pressing the "C" hotkey.

After rescuing the Arsons, heading back to the first checkpoint and then to the west and south, past a Flanker and an Explorer, the player will find a blockade of Polaron Spheres with some Intruders guarding it. The player should use the Arsons to bombard at least two of the Spheres, using Orbiters or Absorbers to provide vision, before moving in the rest of the forces to finish off the blockade. Meanwhile the guarding forces can fight off the pursuing the Flankers for as long as possible, but should definitely avoid the Invaders. The player should head further south to find a second blockade, but also find some more destructible asteroids directly to the northeast of it, which the player should destroy and send a unit through to rescue the Array. The player will receive 200 Metal, Helium-3 and Tachyon which the player can choose to either upgrade weapons to Level 2 or the Cyber Servos upgrade at the Array, which allows Arsons to change modes faster.

Crossing the second rescuable checkpoint to the south and then heading east, the player will come across a second checkpoint of Polaron Spheres, plus a Rector on Hard difficulty. As the player neutralizes it with help of the Arsons, the player can choose to head east and fight more Athrael forces - incluing an Invader - along the way or destroy the small asteroids to the north, leading to a radioactive nebula that will damage the player's units the longer they stay, but can be crossed to a parallel path directly leading to the Renegade Praetor's shipwreck while skipping most guarding Athrael forces, only guarded by Martyrprobes at the end of the parallel path to the right. To deal with the Martyrprobes, the player should lure them with either an Orbiter or Absorber and let the deployed Arsons damage them enough for the Twinblades to destroy them.

When they are destroyed, the player can move the Host Vessel to the shipwreck, finishing the mission.

## Background and Conclusions

It is revealed in this mission that the number of forces guarding the Sylus Core in *Revenge*, in Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors, were actually only a fraction of the real numbers of Sylon drones the combined United Federation and Annaki Order forces would have had to face in the final battle, were not for the Renegade Praetor going against the Sylon Collective, forcing the Sylus to pursue and eliminate it, making this an unexpected and unknown stroke of luck for the allied Human/Athrael forces. Were not for this fact, it would've been very likely that Benjamin Colburne and Nephral's siege against the Core would have failed.

Aside from the information of the Renegade Praetor's plan against the Federation and Athrael forces, that would unfold in *False Flag*, Cura would also encounter the details of the Ascension program that would culminate in the creation of Unizar.

The true identity of the captured Human would be revealed in *Prisoner*, along with the motivations behind the Ascension program that would definitely shift the Praetor's loyalties regarding the Collective.