Mission 15 - Deliverance

## 15 - Deliverance

The Stellar Reactor, the final, critical piece of the Ascension Program.

### Aftermath

Decisive Renegade Sylon Victory* Unizar created from the merging of Praetor (protagonist) and Sterling Buckner.
* New leadership created for the Renegade Sylons.
* Renegade Sylon elements exposed to the Sylus.

## Belligerents

* Renegade Sylons

* Sylon Collective

## Commanders

* Cura

* Sylus

## Forces

* Complete Sylon defensive arsenal.
* Salvaged Athrael/Thorun assets and defensive systems.
* Stellar Reactor

* Complete Sylon arsenal excluding Assimilators, Absorbers, Eclipses and Masks.

## Objectives

* Defend the Stellar Reactor until the merging of Praetor and Sterling Buckner is completed.

* Destroy the Stellar Reactor. *(Deceptively accomplished)*
* Neutralize all Renegade Sylon elements.

## Casualties and losses

Substantial
Extensive

## Involved Characters

* Praetor (protagonist) *(Briefing only)*
* Cura
* Sylus
* Unizar

*Deliverance* is the fifteenth mission of Chapter 02 - Ascension in the Five Nations campaign.

## Setting

With the Cradle Stone secured from the previous engagement, as well as repaired by Nano-probes as planned, Cura informed the Praetor of the endgame of the Ascension program devised by the Renegade Praetor - To ensure a 'deliverance' (emancipation) from the dominion of the Sylus, the Cradle Stone would be used to merge the Praetor's mind (identity and knowledge) with that of Sterling Buckner, providing an effective way of concealing the Praetor from the Sylon Collective. Although the mechanical Sylon body would have to be forfeited, the knowledge would be preserved in Buckner's body, creating a new form of being.

While the Praetor reasonably contested the decision, perceiving the change to a biological form to be a weakness, Cura assured the Praetor this would be for the best, as it'd be the new being's guidance, not combat potential, that would be utilized. The new form would also be suitable for a new form of communication with the Humans, opening a potential chance for alliance with the United Federation. The Praetor understood Cura's reasoning, as the humans 'would not act with malicious intent toward a subject reminiscent of themselves'.

The procedure for the merging would be done with the Cradle Stone, the Praetor and Buckner within a special Sylon structure known as a Stellar Reactor, that would employ the Cradle Stone's energies in an uninterruptible mind transferring procedure, along with a transformation of Buckner's body for survivability outside his current coma.

However, signals were detected shortly after by Cura's Transponders - The forces of the Sylus, whom had just identified the Praetor's recent acts as "a threat to the Collective", had arrived.

## The Fight for the Future

Because the merging process couldn't be interrupted, Cura had to take up the Praetor's place, imitating it's operations, as it prepared defenses to receive the Sylus' forces, especially those in a predicted path towards the Stellar Reactor, established amongst an asteroid field that would disrupt the executioner forces' maneuvering capabilities. This was where the Sylus' methodic plans of attack would be used against it, as the natural obstacles offered a means of funneling the Sylus' numbers. As an additional advantage, Cura also prepared a virus to be implanted at the executioner fleet's sensor and targeting systems, which would forfeit the majority of defending forces, flying past them, targeting only the Stellar Reactor.

An impediment, however, was both the limited supply of the Renegade Sylon forces and the uneasy entrances to the Stellar Reactor as well, which forced Cura into resorting to building a larger number of defensive stations than usual. During preparations, Cura would encounter and assume control of some deactivated Sylon units and facilities, as well as abandoned automated Athrael and Thorun drones that would further complement the defense of the Stellar Reactor, especially the plans for the Thorun's primary defensive stations, the Guard Stations and Ion Cannons.

The Sylus' forces would eventually arrive. Despite the best preparations possible, the battle still had complications as the Sylus employed brute numbers that Cura's defenses would barely be able to handle, including swarms of Spears which forced Cura into leaving a small complement of Spears in reserve to be able to intercept the Sylus' fighter drones. In addition, Cura's virus would eventually be found and neutralized by the Sylus' overwriting of the executioner fleet's sensor systems, allowing the ships to counter-attack at the defending stations.

## The Birth of a New Leadership

> - Opening classified communication channel. The mind transfer is completed. Praetor, do you recognize me?
> - We are not just the Praetor you are seeking for any more.
> - Who am I communicating with?
> - Unizar. The knowledge and experience of the Sylon and Human, Buckner, is a part of us now.
>
> - First exchange between Cura and Unizar

Despite the efforts of Cura's defensive forces, eventually the Sylus' executioner forces did overwhelm these defenses and reach the Stellar Reactor, eventually destroying it. The Sylus, believing the threat to the neutralize would then attempt to salvage the Praetor's defending forces. Unknown to the Sylus however, the Stellar Reactor was destroyed a bit too late. Far from the battle, within a Hauler that left the region, Cura opened a classified communication channel with the Praetor, the mind transfer having been completed.

However, it was not the Praetor whom answered Cura's call, but instead another being, a Human-Sylon hybrid. When inquired by Cura, the being identified himself - Unizar whose knowledge and experience of both the Praetor and Sterling Buckner were now a part of the new being, now.

## Walkthrough

The player will start in command of a light base and very limited Metal, Helium-3 and Tachyon. The player should prioritize on gathering Metal and Tachyon for this mission, as it will be mostly used for building the necessary defenses. The Helium-3 gathered will be employed more for upgrades. While the player will have access to the complete tech tree, both the Installation Prime, the Support Center and the Support Complex will be unavailable, hence the Hauler's upgrades - Extended Cargo and Mastodon Reactor - will be critical in this mission. The player won't have the Labor's related upgrades - Extraction Operations and Prefining - available however, so the player will need to use a part of the already limited supply to making additional Labors. A small part of this supply must be left open for Spears, however, as the Sylus will deploy considerable numbers of them that can pass through the player's defenses. The player would be wise to construct an Offensive Server to research Integrated Remodulator as well.

The player will have a very limited time - about two minutes - before the Sylus' waves start arriving, so the player will need to prepare rapidly, especially on Hard difficulty. The player should send out a Labor or two to the locations described on the minimap *(see image)* to reclaim the rescuable structures and units which will all contribute in multiple ways for this mission:

1 - A second Refinery with a Hauler and a more plentiful Metal asteroid field, as well as additional Helium-3 and Tachyon asteroids. The player may need a second Hauler to assist with the long-distance transportation of the resources from this location.

2 - A couple of Thorun Power Plants, as well as a Guild, an Anvil and three Welders which can be used to build up Guard Stations and Ion Cannons.

3 - A couple of Support Complexes, which will increase further energy income and supply, as well as a couple of Arsons that should be positioned and deployed.

4 - An Athrael Haven and Monument of Will, which allows the construction of Rectors, as well as a couple of Harbingers to assist in the defense. The Harbingers can be used to clear some small asteroids close to the Sylus' southeastern entrance.

With these structures reclaimed, the player should immediately start constructing defense structures to destroy the Sylus' attack waves. While the player is unable to build Installation Primes, it will have construction radii provided by Emitters spread across the map, only leaving the path for the Sylus' ships unbarred to pass through. The player should thus consider the strengths of each defense built, except the Pillbox, which is totally unviable for this mission - it possesses a light attack against fighters and cannot target moving Spears, which will also be fully upgraded, in time.

The best defenses the player can build in this mission, both Sylon and Thorun (if rescued), are:

**Guard Stations**, which surpass Pillboxes as anti-fighter stations due to their instant attack and splash damage, making them very useful for handling enemy spears better. This splash damage will also come in handy in neutralizing the shields of the cluttered Sylus' cruisers for Ion Cannons to easily destroy.
**Aegises**, which while still requiring the Gravimetric Impulse upgrade at the Offensive Server, still have great value as their projectiles ignore enemy shields and target hull directly, making it very useful against the Sylus' heaviest ships, the Shade and Plasma Raid.
**Ion Cannons**, whose very potent artillery already speaks for itself in terms of range and firepower, and may be the linchpin in destroying several of the Sylus attack wave ships. They should be kept in the very back, close to the Stellar Reactor, so they can better bombard enemy vessels already skewered by the other defenses. Due to their power consumption, the player will find constructing a Conflux and researching Fast Charging to be very useful. About eight Ion Cannons may be enough to carry the player through this mission.
Finally, the player will have a **Caldron** to lay Leech Mines as a last-ditch resort against enemies too close to the Stellar Reactor, so the player will want to keep it close to the Reactor itself, laying down mines close to it. Note that Leech Mines do require Metal to build, however.

As the two minute countdown expires, the attack waves will start warping in, and player will have to defend the Stellar Reactor for 15 minutes. The Sylus' forces - including Spears - will all warp-in directly from three exclusive locations at the southwest, south and southeastern corners, all heading to the Stellar Reactor while ignoring the defenses. While coming from different locations, they all converge to a single choke point, leading directly to the Stellar Reactor, so all defenses should be concentrated there *(see image)* to better exploit the splash damage and attack potential of each station. However, the player can and should build one or two Guard Stations and Aegises on the path of the southeastern Sylus attack path, to soften up enemy aggressors further. The player may also want to consider building and deploying a Rector close to the Ion Cannons to help better neutralize the Spear swarms.

The Sylus attack waves will start at Twinblades and pick up gradually in power, escalating to Spears, Glooms, Caldrons, Arsons, Shades and Plasma Raids. There will be no alternative routes for the Sylus to take and all Spears will fly straight to their target, so the player can have a foresight of where to build the defenses and which will best intercept and destroy the attack waves. The player won't need concern with either Absorbers, Masks, Eclipses or Assimilators either.

At the 03-minute mark remaining, however, Cura's virus will have been neutralized and the Sylus' attack waves will start attacking the player's defenses. This can catch a player off-guard, so it may be worth to build at least a Guard Station or two at the paths of two of the three attack waves as to stall the enemy. The most important is that the player keeps enemy forces away from the Stellar Reactor until the countdown expires.

When the countdown is over, the final cutscene will play (just roll with it and don't worry) and the mission will then be finished.

## History and Conclusion

The conclusion of the story arc revolving the Cradle Stone would come in *A New Beginning*, the following mission, on which Chapter 03 - Cataclysm would be left to exploit the consequences of the Renegade Sylons' actions in introducing the Thorun Empire into the war.

The Sylus would genuinely believe the character of the Praetor was destroyed until *All Quiet in Aurum*, in Chapter 04 - Endgame.

## Trivia

* The design for this mission is a clear homage to the Tower Defense sub-genre of strategy games, which does involve the construction of defensive structures to neutralize enemy attack waves attempting to reach a determined point or attack a determined target, as is specified in this mission.
	+ This may also be a reference to *The Crossing*, a bonus Blood Elf mission in WarCraft III - The Frozen Throne, which also utilizes the same Tower Defense mechanics.