CSS Arrow

The **CSS *Arrow*** was an escape starship used by the Colonist Survivors (CSS) to leave the Colony Planet after the destruction of their base and ground assets during the Battle of the Colony Planet. The *Arrow* was used by the CSS during their time in space before it was destroyed during a missile strike on Watchtower Station by the Drone Reactionary Force (DRF).

## History

### Construction

Shortly before the Battle of the Colony Planet, the Colonists' leader, Captain Jack Roberts, ordered the construction of a planetary escape ship in case the coming battle went poorly for the CSS, using the silo once protected by the Waffle Iron to house it. The crew designed it to be small and fast, and thus five large hydrogen thrusters were made to propel the rocket forward, allowing it to escape any danger extremely quickly and easily. Ten cryo pods for the crew, as well as a medical bay, several seats, cargo containers, oxygen/hydrogen generators, and a large nuclear reactor were also built, surrounded by light armor to allow for as lightweight a grid as possible. For some light defense, two M-61 Vulcan point-defense turrets were added to the dorsal and ventral hull.

### Journey to Watchtower

After the CSS and their enemy, the Drone Reactionary Force (DRF), battled each other to the point of mutual destruction, the Colonist crew boarded the rocket, naming it the *Arrow*, and took off into space, leaving their ruined base behind. After a short search, the crew came across their former space station, Watchtower Station, and fitted some merge blocks to the *Arrow* to allow it to dock with the station. The crew used what little supplies they had to repair the station and the *Arrow*, which took damage in the DRF's attack on New Dawn Base. However, when Captain Roberts and Commander Craz attempted to repair the Watchtower's jump drive, it malfunctioned and jumped the station, with the *Arrow* attached, straight into an asteroid orbiting the planet P3-X2.

### Operations from Watchtower

After the Colonists upgraded Watchtower into an asteroid-encased base, they began building other vessels, including various warships and support ships. The *Arrow* remained their primary transport shuttle for several operations, such as ferrying supplies and personnel to and from the Colonists' ground base on the surface of P3-X2, and later recovering the *Pioneer*, the Colonists' planetary landing ship, following the Battle of Pioneer Base. It also transported Roberts, Craz, Finn, and Castle to the DRF's abandoned ground base some time later, and they briefly used its landing gear to steal a DRF ground vehicle, dropping it from a great height as they departed the planet.

In its final hours, the *Arrow* was used as a quick-response vessel, responding to two attacks on Watchtower. During the first, which was a multi-wave attack by squadrons of drones from the Green Drone Armada (GDA), the *Arrow* was piloted wildly by Roberts around the nearby asteroids in Watchtower's asteroid cluster, using its Vulcan turrets to fire on the tiny drones. However, it took some moderate damage, but another attack, this time by DRF cruise missiles, prevented the Colonists from repairing it. Roberts took the helm again and attempted to venture out from the base and shoot down the DRF's fourth and final missile, but even its large hydrogen thrusters could not keep up with the missile's speed. One CSS member, Ler, attempted to intercept the missile with a large mining ship, but the resulting collision caused the missile to spin off-course and damage part of Watchtower. The *Arrow* was caught by debris and slammed into an asteroid, causing a loss in power. It was soon salvaged by the team.