Battle of Icarus

Commanders| * Grand Admiral Adam Williams
* Admiral Isaac Sheppard
* Captain Jack Roberts
* Commander Sam Reed
* Commander Edwards

Strength| * 2 Daedalus-class Battleships
	+ RWI Apollo
	+ RWI Osiris
* 1 Eclipse-class Science Corvette
	+ RWI Eclipse
* Several Defender-class Frigates
	+ RWI Tigris
	+ RWI Bishop
	+ RWI Goddard
* Several Phoenix-class Assault Frigates
	+ RWI Liberty
	+ RWI Aegis Fate
	+ RWI Pursuit
	+ RWI Charon
* Many V-203 Interceptors
	+ Phoenix Squadron
* 1 Rhino-class Mobile Base
* Several Marauder-class Rovers
* Several Valkyrie-class Dropships
* Many RWI marines
* Many GDA Destroyers
* Many GDA Falcon-class Fighters
* Several shuttle craft
* Many GDA Sentry Drones
* Many GDA infantry drones

Casualties| * RWI Liberty
* RWI Aegis Fate
* RWI Pursuit
* RWI Bishop
* RWI Goddard
* Many RWI marines
* Many ground vehicles
* Many V-203 Fighters
* Many other warships
* Many GDA Falcon-class Fighters
* Many Infantry Drones
* Many Sentry Drones

The **Battle of Icarus** was one of the most crucial battles of the Green Drone War. It occurred when the GDA Commander launched a large attack fleet at the planet Icarus, the capital world of RWI (Red Wood Industries), and struck Cyrus Station and the shipyards in orbit, the Capital City, and the RWI Black Vault Research and Development Center, which contained The Artifact. The Artifact was the main objective of the GDA (Green Drone Armada), as they believed it would lead them to conquer the galaxy using its ancient powers. Although the invasion force was repelled, the GDA were successful in stealing the Artifact and escaping the system.

## History

### Prelude

During the Battle of Ravcor, a strike team led by Captain Jack Roberts and Captain Jonathan Hunter of Red Wood Industries assaulted the GDA base on the lava planet Ravcor and stole the Artifact from it. Though Hunter's Daedalus-class Battleship, the RWI *Valiant*, was heavily damaged and Hunter was wounded in the escape attempt, the Artifact managed to escape some time later to Icarus during the Battle of Demus. The Artifact was transferred from Roberts’ ship, the RWI *Eclipse*, to the RWI *Discovery*, which took both the Artifact and the *Valiant*’s crew back to Icarus. It was then taken to the Black Vault facility and researched vigorously by Dr. Colt until the GDA attacked a few weeks later.

### The Battle Begins

#### The Space Battle

When Captain Roberts and RWI’s Commander-In-Chief, Grand Admiral Adam Williams, left to attack a GDA shipyard facility over Demus, taking the flagship *Apollo* and a handful of ships, the GDA Commander authorized his fleet to move in and strike Icarus’s shipyards and orbital stations. The home fleet was completely taken by surprise and several ships were lost before Admiral Isaac Sheppard of the RWI *Osiris* took command and sent a distress call to all RWI forces. Admiral Williams and Captain Roberts received the signal and rushed back to Icarus at best speed.

When the *Apollo*, Defender-class Frigate RWI *Tigris*, and Phoenix-class Assault Frigates RWI *Aegis Fate* and RWI *Pursuit* arrived, the *Osiris* and Cyrus Command Station had been seriously damaged and many ships had been lost. The GDA Dreadnought and at least six other destroyers were lying in wait for the reinforcements, but the Dreadnought used its FTL drive and jumped away to a different area of the planet. The additional destroyers were soon destroyed, but so were the *Pursuit* and *Aegis Fate*.

#### The Ground Assault

Grand Admiral Williams received news that the Capital City’s defense grid was offline and the city was under siege by a GDA Destroyer, Falcon-class Fighters, and many ground units. The RWI defense troops, despite having access to a Rhino-class Mobile Base, Marauder-class Rovers, and a number of fighters and soldiers, were being pushed back from key buildings. A Phoenix-class frigate was crashed in the city central park land several buildings had been demolished.

Captain Roberts and his crew were sent down in Valkyrie-class Dropships in order to secure vital data files in the RWI HQ building. One dropship containing Roberts, Finn, Castle, and Bashful, was shot down en route, crashing near the city center. The second gunship containing Craz, Owen, Mors, and Finchy landed near the city walls and proceeded across the city to a hijacked anti-aircraft gun in order to destroy it. The two teams made their way across the city and accomplished their objectives, taking down any drone sentry units they came across. After the AA cannon was destroyed, the teams met up in the RWI command building and secured the data within.

At this point, more RWI ships had shown up to reinforce the *Apollo*. The RWI *Charon* was immediately sent to the city and it destroyed the enemy destroyer in the skies above. Groups of V-203s picked off any remaining Green Drone fighters left in the vicinity, and more ships were deployed around the planet to deal with straggling GDA ships.

However, an urgent report from Commander Sam Reed, who had taken a group of marines to defend the Black Vault, informed Williams and his first officer, Commander Edwards, that the Black Vault was being attacked by the Commander and his Dreadnought, and all contact with the marines and the scientists within the facility was soon lost. Williams immediately ordered Roberts' team to divert to the *Osiris* for a counter strike.

Fifty minutes after the Vault went dark, Admiral Sheppard gave Roberts a set of access codes for the Vault and the V-203 fighters of Phoenix Squadron as well as the RWI *Liberty* for support. Roberts, Craz, Owen, and Ler flew the fighters while the rest of the crew traveled to the facility via dropship. The *Liberty* engaged the Dreadnought outside the base’s landing platform, and though Ler was shot down by enemy fighters, the whole team managed to make it to the base. Unfortunately, the *Liberty* was annihilated by the Dreadnought’s four Atlas Lasers, leaving the team without support.

#### The Black Vault

While the team infiltrated the facility and fought their way to the Artifact’s containment chamber, Williams was informed that all GDA ships except the Dreadnought had been destroyed. Williams deployed the *Tigris* and a few other ships to occupy the Dreadnought. Meanwhile, Roberts' team managed to recover Commander Reed and find the injured Dr. Colt, who updated the captain on his findings about the Artifact.

Roberts attempted to stop the Commander as he took the Artifact to a shuttle craft in the main hangar of the Black Vault, but he was too late. The shuttle took off and docked with the Dreadnought before the reinforcing ships arrived. As the Dreadnought made a break for space, Williams dispatched the RWI *Bishop* and RWI *Goddard* to stop the ship before it could jump to hyperspace with the Artifact. Both ships were destroyed, and at the advice of Edwards, Williams ordered the *Apollo* to fire its tactical warheads and broke off. The missiles didn’t hit before the Dreadnought escaped. The Battle of Icarus was over with the Artifact’s escape.

### The Aftermath

The battle left Icarus’s shipyards in ruins. Many lives had been lost through the destruction of multiple ships and buildings. It took RWI much time to rebuild and restart its shipyards, although Cyrus Station and several shipyard stations were still mostly intact.

Somehow, the RWI *Eclipse* hadn’t been damaged in the attack, and Williams dispatched Jack and his crew to investigate a strange signal emanating from DRF (Drone Reactionary Force) space, though the DRF had long since been out of the conflict and the signal was revealed to be coming from Papple, a teammate of Jack’s who had been presumed dead since the Battle of Ravcor.

Despite the damage done at Icarus, RWI managed to build and mobilize and congregate numerous vessels, including a Daedalus-class Battleship outfitted with experimental weaponry, the RWI *Zheng-He*, in order to turn the tables and invade the GDA stronghold world of P3-X2, and later attack the GDA Super-Dreadnought at the Battle of the Black Hole to destroy the Artifact and the GDA to end the war once and for all.

## Behind The Scenes

The Battle of Icarus takes place over the course of Episodes 63-67 of 'Space Engineers: Colony Lost,' the third series in the Colony Universe.

Many elements of the Battle of Icarus, such as the location and importance of the Black Vault and the theft of the Artifact, were carried over from (or are similar to) the Shadow War in the Redwood Universe, during which the Shadows attacked RWI's capital world and destroyed many ships in order to steal the Artifact.