Rescue of Craz

Combatants| * Colonist Survivors
* Red Wood Industries

Commanders| * Captain Jack Roberts
* Captain Jonathan Hunter (late battle)
* Commander Sam Reed
* Commander Craz (late battle)

Strength| * 1 Defender-class Frigate MK.II
	+ RWI Intrepid
* 8 V-203 Interceptors
	+ Green Squadron
	+ Blue Squadron (late battle)
* 2 Valkyrie-class Dropships (late battle)
* 1 Keep-class Mobile Base
* 1 MR-2 Ranger-class Rover
* 1 Dunebug-class Rover
* 1 Salvage Rover
* 1 Raven-class Gunship
* 1 Scourge-class Carrier
* Many GDA Falcon-class Fighters
* Many GDA Mako-class Fighters
* Many Sentry Drones
* Many Infantry Drones

Casualties| * All forces except the Valiant's reinforcements
* 1 Scourge-class Carrier
* Many Falcon-class Fighters
* Many Mako-class Fighters
* All Ground Forces

The Rescue of Craz was the final battle in the Colonist Survivors' (CSS) struggle against the Green Drone Armada (GDA) while stranded on an unnamed Earth-like planet during the early weeks of the Green Drone War. Aided by forces from Red Wood Industries (RWI), the CSS stormed the GDA headquarters on the planet in order to rescue Commander Craz from GDA imprisonment, as well as to locate an "Asset" being held and researched by the GDA. At a heavy cost, the CSS and RWI forces were able to find Craz, but the Asset was transported offworld. The remaining CSS forces were also soon ferried from the planet by additional RWI reinforcements.

## History

### Prelude

#### Kidnapped

During the Battle of the Colonies at the very end of the Colony War, the CSS flagship *Vengeance* was ambushed by five GDA Destroyers, which damaged the dreadnaught and forced it to make a blind FTL jump to escape destruction. Upon emerging from FTL, the *Vengeance* crash-landed in a graveyard of other crashed starships which had been downed by GDA ships in the area. At some point following the crash, CSS crew member Bash noticed Commander Craz being kidnapped from the engine room of the *Vengeance* by GDA troops. The Colonist captain, Jack Roberts, led the other survivors to safe haven, setting up camp in an abandoned base called the Bastion and planning to find and rescue Craz whenever they could.

#### Reinforcements Arrive

After the Battle of the GDA Transmitter, in which Roberts and his crew hijacked a GDA transmitter tower to send a distress call to any RWI forces in the vicinity, a Defender-class Frigate, the RWI *Intrepid* and its complement led by Commander Sam Reed rushed to their aid. The RWI forces resupplied the CSS forces and set up a forward operating base nearby, where they monitored GDA movements and activities. Soon, it was discovered that Craz was being held in the GDA headquarters on the planet. Reed's crew also found out that the GDA were moving assets to protect something very valuable, which turned out to be an ancient device known as an Artifact. Since both were important, the RWI and CSS forces soon met up and planned to attack the base, rescue Craz, and steal the Artifact.

### The Battle

#### Crossing the Bridge

The CSS brought their Keep-class Mobile Base rover along with a handful of other small rovers and a Raven-class Gunship to aid the *Intrepid* and its fighters in the attack. The forces' first objective was to cross over a huge bridge above a deep canyon. GDA defenders set up roadblocks and launched squadrons of fighters to stop the CSS convoy from crossing, but the *Intrepid* provided fire support while the V-203 Interceptors of Green Squadron took down the enemy ships. Despite losing at least one member of Green Squadron and all of the support rovers, the CSS and RWI forces pushed onwards

#### Infiltrating the HQ

The *Keep* charged forward and deployed the CSS strike team led by Roberts at the entrance of the GDA HQ's outer walls. Meanwhile, the *Intrepid* and the remaining RWI fighters dealt with more GDA fighters and downed a Scourge-class Carrier hovering above the base. They also disabled a GDA Destroyer being constructed in a drydock and took out several small support structures before Roberts' team infiltrated the base, fighting through waves of GDA infantry drones. They managed to make their way to the room where the Artifact was being held, only to find the device gone and The Commander, the military leader of the GDA, lying in wait with a GDA Falcon-class Fighter as an ambush. Outside the base, two GDA Destroyers arrived and shot down the *Intrepid* with their Atlas Lasers, although one destroyer was lost in return. The second hovered above the base's perimeter, waiting in case the CSS troops tried to retreat.

#### Escaping the Trap

Just as the Commander was about to wipe out the Colonists, Craz emerged from hiding via a secret trapdoor inspired by the Waffle Iron, a hinged missile silo door built during the Colony War. He opened fire with his minigun and destroyed the GDA fighter, then reunited with Roberts and escaped with the team. They exited the base only to find the second GDA ship bombarding the grounds outside the main entrance. Roberts also spotted the *Intrepid* crashed a short distance away and ordered the crew to make a run for the *Keep*, taking out GDA sentry drones as they went. Once they were all aboard, Roberts used the magnetic coil cannon on the *Keep* to take out the Destroyer, freeing the way for the *Keep* to escape and drive over to the *Intrepid*'s wreckage.

Roberts and the crew made their way through the remnants of the frigate, finding Commander Reed as the sole survivor. Just as they made it back to the *Keep* with Reed, the GDA reinforcements arrived: another Destroyer and numerous fighters chased the *Keep* back to the bridge. However, The Commander had ordered bombs to be planted on the bridge, and they were detonated just as the *Keep* arrived, cutting off the Colonists' only way back to their base. Trapped between a GDA Destroyer and a terrifying drop to their certain deaths, all the Colonists could do was fire wildly at the fighters swarming around the damaged *Keep*.

#### Evacuating the Planet

As all hope seemed lost, the team looked to the skies to see four more V-203 Fighters blasting at the Destroyer - reinforcements from the RWI *Valiant* had received the *Intrepid*'s last distress signal and arrived in time to save the Colonists. Two Valkyrie-class Dropships landed on the bridge and an RWI major gestured for the Colonists to board the transports quickly. As the dropships withdrew, covered by the fighters of Blue Squadron, the GDA Destroyer blasted the *Keep* to pieces with its superlaser, sending the remains to the bottom of the canyon. The RWI ships landed aboard the Daedalus-class Battleship awaiting them in orbit and its captain, Jonathan Hunter, ordered the *Valiant* to jump to FTL, thus ending RWI's presence in the sector.

## Behind-The-Scenes

The Rescue of Craz takes place over Episodes 19-22 of 'Space Engineers: Colony Lost,' the third series in the Colony Universe.

As explained in a Colony Lost Podcast at the end of 2019 by Captain Jack, Craz, and several members of the Colony cast and production team, one of the reasons Craz was absent for the early episodes of the series was the fact that he had been busy with real-life matters and was unable to actively participate in the series until the beginning of 2020. Hence, Craz's character in the series had to go MIA until real-life Craz could find time to return. The episodes when Craz was first properly introduced into the series were filmed in 2020.