RWI Olympus

The **RWI *Olympus*** is am Artemis-class Heli-Carrier designed and used by Red Wood Industries (RWI) some time after the Green Drone War of 2733. It was commanded by Captain Jonathan Hunter and was first deployed as part of the reinforcements deployed to Chrome II to back up the forces of the Joint Expedition Task Force (JETF) in mid-2734.

## History

### Construction and Launch

At some point prior to the Joint Expedition Task Force's mission to the Chrome System, RWI commissioned a new atmospheric heli-carrier to bolster its fleet. Using a design called the Artemis-class Command Heli-Carrier, RWI constructed at least one known vessel of the class, naming it the RWI *Olympus*. It is unknown when exactly the ship entered service, but there are no records of it fighting in the Green Drone War in 2733 or before, so it is likely a new design. it was given the numerical designation "001", meaning it was the first of its class to be made by RWI.

### Joint Expedition Task Force Mission

#### Reinforcements Arrive

During the JETF's mission, the flagship, the RWI *Prometheus*, was destroyed and crashed on Chrome II, leaving the JETF forces stranded. Admiral Jack Roberts, leading the forces of RWI and Crazy North Logistics (CNL), managed to send a distress call to Icarus, the capital world of RWI. After getting word of the distress call, RWI Command launched a fleet of RWI reinforcements to the system, under the command of Admiral Kieron Hask and the RWI *Zheng-He*. The RWI *Olympus* was assigned to the reinforcement fleet under the command of Captain Jonathan Hunter, a veteran officer and good friend of Admiral Roberts. Alongside the Defender-class Frigates RWI *Tyrant*, RWI *Tenacity*, and a third ship, the fleet arrived at Chrome II and swiftly deployed the *Olympus* to the surface. Captain Hunter contacted Roberts and the JETF forces as the *Olympus* neared the City of the First Ones, an ancient structure that had become the JETF's base of operations.

#### Striking Back

Captain Hunter and Admiral Roberts were later instructed by Admiral Hask that the JETF's enemy, a faction called the Remnant, had been gathering ships in a nearby savannah. As such, the RWI *Olympus* was deployed to deal with the threat and wipe out as many Remnant ships as possible. After arriving in the vicinity, the *Olympus* launched its complement of V-203 Fighters, Red Squadron, and a few VH-121 Vulture-class Helicopters to deal with the Remnant fighters and carriers. The RWI fighters made quick work of the fighters and weakened the carriers' shields so that the *Olympus* could move in and use its heavier weaponry to finish them off.

After dealing with the Remnant ships, the *Olympus* and its fighters began travelling back to the city. Roberts and Hunter communicated with Hask briefly in Hunter's office before the *Olympus* bridge crew detected another Remnant carrier up ahead, fleeing the staging ground. The *Olympus* quickly launched its fighters and destroyed the carrier. However, the RWI ships were then suddenly affected by a strange power surge, which knocked out the ship's sensors, shields, and long-range communications. They discovered it was due to the ancient towers transmitting some kind of energy field, which had been activated by rogue RWI Commander Michael Lynch, who had deserted the *Prometheus* at the beginning of the mission, in an attempt to destroy the *Olympus*.

Hunter and Roberts attempted to fly the carrier back to the city to escape the jamming, but encountered a waterborne carrier which launched remote-controlled drone fighters at the RWI ships. However, once Red Squadron dealt with the enemy fighters, the *Olympus* once again moved in and hovered above the damaged carrier, bombarding it with fire as it sank into the river. By destroying the carrier, the link between the towers and the jamming signal was severed, returning the RWI ships to normal status. However, the ship was able to detect Lynch's presence as they departed the area, which revealed that he was working with the Remnant, which concerned Roberts and Hunter. Roberts then ordered the *Olympus* to return to the city as soon as possible.

#### Attack on the City

Shortly after the *Olympus* returned to the city, the JETF forces were attacked by the stolen Sentry Drones of Project X-12, an experimental drone project using reprogrammed drones salvaged from the Green Drone Armada (GDA) after the war. The drones had been taken over by Commander Lynch, who used them to attack the JETF forces. The *Olympus* took moderate damage during the attack, but the drones were all eventually repelled. However, the city also took heavy damage, due in part to the *Olympus*' automatic PDCs opening fire on drones that got too close to the city and accidentally blasting through walls in the process.

#### Mutiny of CNL

Upon realizing that RWI's own secret (and illegal) drone project had been turned against them, Colonel Jorgen Larson of CNL betrayed the JETF and orchestrated a CNL mutiny, dealing even more damage to the city. Captain Hunter was communicating with Roberts and Hask when a large explosion destroyed the city's communication array. The *Olympus*' crew detected the ensuing damage to the city and Hunter ordered a strike team to be sent down at once, but a bridge officer reported that the *Olympus* was also experiencing power losses due to unknown reasons. In orbit of the planet, the RWI *Zheng-He*'s crew monitored the situation as it unfolded, and reasoned that CNL's transmitter frequencies were newly-encrypted, and likely a CNL sabotage plot was carried out on the *Olympus* via those codes. However, after a lengthy firefight throughout the city, Roberts ordered the RWI forces to stand down and let the CNL forces flee the city, so as to avoid further bloodshed and infighting. A single CNL dropship departed the city's main hangar, flying right past the *Olympus*.

## Characteristics

### Hangars

Being a heli-carrier, the RWI *Olympus* was outfitted with plentiful hangar space for fighters, shuttles, gunships, and maintenance vehicles. On the bow of the ship's main deck, an exterior flight deck ran roughly half the length of the ship, and could hold five to six V-203 Fighters. Two Vulture-class Helicopters could be stored on exterior landing pads on either side of the ship's bridge tower. A Valkyrie-class Dropship could be stored on the aft landing pad. According to other schematics, at least five interior hangar spaces were contained within the ship, but it is unclear what they can carry. However, it is likely that they were meant to store additional fighter craft and dropships, as well as support ships, perhaps such as the Eitri-class Construction Vessel.

### Interior Layout

Although much of the interior was dominated by hangar space, the *Olympus* did have a number of other rooms. Atop the tower in the middle-aft of the *Olympus* was the main bridge, which also contained a medical bay and the captain's office/quarters. Below the main flight deck was an internal CIC (combat information center) and an observation deck that overlooked the planet from above. The ship also contained an engine room in the lower-aft section.

### Flight

The majority of the *Olympus*' main atmospheric thrusters were all housed in the four wing-like protrusions on each corner of the ship; two port and two starboard, one fore and one aft on each side. Most of these thrusters pointed downwards, giving the ship lift. Being an atmospheric carrier, the *Olympus* was not designed to operate in space, and did not have any ion thrusters; it had to be carried from one planet to another by other ships. However, several small hydrogen thrusters were scattered throughout each wing, facing forwards, backwards, and downwards to help the ship deploy from orbit to atmosphere, as it did on Chrome II. Other atmospheric thrusters were placed in each direction elsewhere along the ship's hull, allowing it to strafe in any direction.

### Other Features

The *Olympus* was also outfitted with a shield generator to defend itself in battle. Even though it was not necessarily meant to be on the front lines - rather, to deploy its fighters and operate from afar - the *Olympus* was also outfitted with a substantial amount of PDCs (point-defense cannons) to deal with any enemy fighters that got too close. A few heavier guns, such as its main Mk3 Battleship Cannon on the ventral bow slope, were instrumental in firing at larger targets from afar.

On top of the bridge section, facing aft, was a large radar dish and antenna array, allowing for both short-range and long-range communications. The shield emitter was also located on the tower. The ship was painted in the traditional RWI color scheme of mostly black with red and gray markings, and dotted around the exterior hull were large white letters bearing the name "*Olympus*", the acronym "RWI", and the numerical address "001".

## Behind The Scenes

The RWI *Olympus* first appeared in Episode 21 of 'Space Engineers: Colony Alliances', the fourth series in the Colony Universe.

The design came from various submissions to Captain Jack in his Community Discord server in late 2021, after he asked for a heli-carrier build to feature in 'Colony Alliances'. The CEU Artemis Command Carrier by 5URG3 and Whiplash141 was eventually chosen and slightly modified to be used in the series. Although the official RWI version of the ship is not available on the Steam Workshop, the original blueprint can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=580846961.