Mission 01 - Distress Call

## 01 - Distress Call

Federal forces relief Unicorp's UX22 facility.

## Belligerents

* United Federation

* Black Swan

## Commanders

* Benjamin Colburne
* Vera Vargas

* Unknown Black Swan commander.

## Forces

* Hurricane Fighter squadrons.
* UX22 facility defenses including Barricade Sats.
* UFN Trinity.

* Looted Hurricane Fighters.
* DEMA War period Gunboats.

## Objectives

* Relief UX22 facility.
* Rout all enemy forces.

* Occupy UX22 facility.
* Destroy all Federation / Unicorp defenders.

## Casualties and losses

Minimal
Substantial

## Involved Characters

* Benjamin Colburne
* Vera Vargas
* Greg Leskovski
* Sterling Buckner *(Briefing only)*

*Distress Call* is the first mission in Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors in the Five Nations campaign.  While, chronologically, this mission is preceded by the fourth mission (*The Deal*) in the Prelude campaign, in the game order this is the first campaign mission of Five Nations.

## Setting

Nine years following the EIRA expedition incident, the unsuspecting United Federation continued it's colonization of space, expanding from Sol to the Caribou Systems, it's economy's dependence of resources from the fringe regions made evident.  Unfortunately, the distance between the fringe regions and the Sol System gave birth to a golden age of piracy, separatist movements and terrorism, forcing the Federation, fearing the rise of a new Democracy of Mars, to station the 12th Fleet, helmed by Admiral Sterling Buckner, at the Caribou System.

Following the distress call of Unicorp's UX22 mining complex, helmed by the facility's director Edvin McLain, Buckner dispatched the UFN Trinity, helmed by Commander Benjamin Colburne, along with an escort of Hurricane Fighters to relief the facility, given the Trinity was the closest ship to intervene (four hours away) and the status of the distress call (weak, full of static and couldn't be picked earlier by the Trinity) led to believe communications were being jammed.

## The Relief

As the UFN Trinity and it's escorts arrived at the vicinity of the UX22 facility, Colburne was contacted by the facility's acting director, Vera Vargas, grateful for the relief as the facility's defenses wouldn't hold the pirate attacks much longer, but dismayed by the size of the relief force, expecting the 'rest of the Fed Navy'.  Colburne's second-in-command, Lieutenant Greg Leskovski, attempted to reassure Vargas of their capabilities, claiming they 'know how to play hardball'.  Vargas also informed Colburne of director McLain's fate - that he committed suicide by walking to the head-office's airlock two days prior, unable to bear the pressure of the pirate attack.

Colburne and Lieskovski, following a brief skirmish of the facility by the pirates, commandeered the local facilities (including a Ship Factory they used to fabricate additional Hurricane fighters) and personnel, shoring up defenses against additional pirate attack waves, which included Gunboats from the DEMA War era.  The nature of the equipment and tactics employed led Colburne to believe the assailants belonged to the paramilitary Black Swan organization, made mostly of former DEMA members.

Eventually, the extensive losses of the Black Swan attackers forced the pirates into forfeiting the assault and retreat, to start inventorying their remaining vessels.

## Walkthrough

The player begins in command of a few Hurricane Fighters and the UFN Trinity helmed by Colburne, which possesses a couple of potent abilities (the Flechette missile, which can deal strong area damage, though it can harm friendly units as well, and the EMP burst, which renders a single enemy unit inactive) along with a substantial HP and Shield count that allows him to survive skirmishes.  The objective base is directly to the northeast past a small squadron of enemy Hurricanes.   The player should send the Trinity ahead in most encounters to shield the friendly Hurricane fighters as they dispatch the enemy forces.

Shortly after rescuing the allied Command Station, the Black Swan will launch an attack, but can be easily repelled with the aid of your units and the facility's Barricade Sats.  After the attack is repelled, the player will receive some resources and a couple of Engineer Shuttles the player can set to mine the nearby metal asteroid field, though Vera will remind the player they must attach the Icarus cargo ship to the Mining Station to haul resources.  The player will still need, regardless, need to train additional Engineer Shuttles (at best up to 10), to provide a substantial income rate to support building Hurricanes non-stop.  The player may also need to build an additional Supply Silo to allow fielding further Hurricanes and Engineer Shuttles.

The next Black Swan attack will occur a couple of minutes after the Engineer Shuttles are delivered and will come by the northwest, by an asteroid field the Trinity cannot traverse but the Hurricanes can fly over.  It's recommended the player waits until the enemy is in range of the Trinity, though, and use the Flechette missile in a timed aim to avoid further losses.  After this, a couple more minutes will pass before the third attack comes, this time from the southeast and consisting of both enemy Hurricanes and Gunboats, which are extremely dangerous against fighters for their fast rate of fire, so the player will want to wait as the Gunboats target either the Trinity or a Barricade Sat before engaging with the fighters.

The final Black Swan attack will occur a couple more minutes after the southeast attack wave is destroyed, and will come north, targeting the player's mining line.  The player will want to move away the Engineer Shuttles and the Icarus away from the heavy attack force, and use the Trinity's Flechette missile again if the enemy Gunboats and Hurricanes are grouped tightly.  After this wave is dealt with, the mission is won.

Note that though the Trinity is capable of handling itself in a fight, it's **not** invincible and the player has no means of repairing it.  Should the attack prove too much for the Trinity to handle (especially in the Hard difficulty), even with Flechette missiles, the player should pull back to either the Ship Factory, Command Base or a Barricade Sat to protect it, especially if it's shields do run out.

## Notes

If the player utilizes cheat codes (via the chromium console by pressing F12) to reveal the entire map, it'll reveal all the pre-placed Black Swan units in the area, which are ordered to attack the station after the player recaptures the Command Station.  Further attack waves are generated from spawning points and ordered to attack.