Mission 06 - The Bargain

## 06 - The Bargain

Joint Federal and Black Swan forces help each other out.

### Aftermath

Close Federation Victory* Remaining Federation (and Black Swan) ships and crews escape to the Sol System.

## Belligerents

* 12th Fleet Remnants
* Black Swan

* Sylon Collective

## Commanders

* Benjamin Colburne
* Salamon Zamor

* Unknown Praetor

## Forces

* Remaining Federation forces, including Orca Corvettes and Hailstorm Cruisers.
* Remaining Black Swan forces, including Gunboats, modified Icarii, Pasteur support vessels and Khan-class Battleships.
* Remaining Black Swan installations, including a Pirate Port.
* Joseon-class support vessel.
* UFN Trinity and UFN Ulysses.

* Basic Drone vessels, including Spears and Twinblades.
* Assault Drones including Glooms, Shades and Arsons.
* Caldrons and Leech Mines.
* Automated defenses including Aegises and Pillboxes.

## Objectives

* Evacuate to the Jumpgate.

* Find and eliminate all Human forces.

## Casualties and losses

Substantial
Substantial

## Involved Characters

* Benjamin Colburne
* Greg Leskovski
* Vera Vargas
* Salamon Zamor

*The Bargain* is the sixth mission in Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors in the Five Nations campaign.

## Setting

Following the collapse of the Bifrost Gate's wormhole during the evacuation of the remaining Caribou System civilians, Benjamin Colburne and Greg Leskovski started discussing on a plan to escaping the system, and the onslaught of the unknown invaders, with Colburne putting mostly his hopes on the Federation High Command sending a relief force, while Leskovski wasn't as much optimistic, much certain the Federation would instead lock down the entire system.  During their discussion, Salamon Zamor of the Black Swan requested an audience.

Zamor informed them of his awareness of their problem with the unknown invaders, which Zamor knew as the Sylons, and thus proposed to offer to assist the stranded Federation forces in leaving the Caribou System in return for amnesty.  For this, Zamor disclosed the location of a secret Jumpgate in the Cassini asteroid belt, an advanced technology left by DEMA, which repeatedly aided the Black Swan in it's mobilizations and evading the Federation, and thus it was the most guarded secret of the Black Swan, all members under oath to never say anything about it's existence.

As Leskovski sarcastically pointed out that Zamor basically 'kicked himself out of the organization' by just mentioning the Jumpgate, Zamor fiercely defended the ideals of the Black Swan, stating they 'fight for the persecuted' by operating outside of Federation law, which 'would rather see them dead than give them liberty'.  Zamor also disclosed that the Sylon invaders were accidentally invited by the Federation's EIRA Institute, and thus they regard all human beings, not only those under the Federation, as an enemy.

Colburne agreed to Zamor's offering, as long as Zamor did keep his word of delivering Colburne's forces back to the Sol System.

## Alliances of Convenience

Colburne's expedition arrived at the Cassini asteroid belt, which was already writhing with Sylon forces, and Zamor reported he called upon the remaining Black Swan forces in the belt to assist them.  While losses were indeed extensive, especially due to several previous engagements, the Black Swan still possessed a multiple amount of operating ships, including another Khan-class battleship (besides the Zamor's previous *Black Caesar* encountered at the Bear Rock asteroid).  Amongst Colburn's forces, there was a scientific research team amongst the fifth rescued convoy, aboard a Joseon-class ship which provided tactical support in the form of camouflaging friendly vessels or disabling Sylon ships.  The Sylons, though apparently unaware of the Jumpgate's existence, still established patrols and control checkpoints throughout the belt.

The joint Federation-Swan forces fought their way across the Sylon lines as they reached one of the still intact Swan facilities in the area, including a fully functional Pirate Port, which they used to assemble a few more attack vessels with the resources they had.  In a particular moment, Colburne's group also found a group of Icarus cargo ships that weren't modified as other Black Swan vessels were, but instead were loaded with resources.  Zamor claimed those were 'lost Icarus cargo ships', in which Vera Vargas hardly believed.

Having amassed a number of ships, the Federation-Swan fleet fought with what they had towards the defending Sylon lines, upon which, despite losses, the Federation forces did prevail.  Colburne's fleet eventually reached the Jumpgate and thus activated it, traversing back to the Sol System, setting off the gate's self-destruction protocol afterwards.

Because Zamor was true to his word, Colburne also met his end of the deal and allowed the Black Swan to depart.  In gratitude, Zamor delivered Colburne stolen data and information from the EIRA on the Sylons.

## Walthrough

The player will start in command of the UFN Trinity, the UFN Ulysses, a few Orcas, a Hailstorm and the Joseon support ship.  The Joseon, despite not looking much, is nevertheless an useful support ship, in it's camouflage ability that allows cruisers to come into attack range mostly unharmed (ideal for advancing into Sylon Arsons, for an instance) and the EMP missile which can disable too tight groups of enemy units.  It also can, in later missions, be upgraded with Magnetic Pulses which can be very effective against enemy spellcasters.

After a small confrontation into the northwest, with a trio of Twinblades which the Joseon can easily neutralize, allowing other units to finish them off, the player will come at a crossroads, which the northwestern path is defended by a few Spears (and an Arson in hard difficulty).  To the northest lies a radiation cloud which damages the player ships' shield and power reserves and then health overtime, but by using either the Trinity or the Ulysses and moving a bit north, the player will find a Khan Battleship, which will be very useful in tearing apart Sylon defenses and ships.  To the southwest is a small group of Gunboats and a Pasteur, and the player should take it as there are no available replacements for repair ships.  When following northwest, the player should instead take the leftmost detour as the way ahead is well guarded by Aegises, Leech Mines, Arsons and a Shade in Hard difficulty, and this can be devastating to a careless player.  The left detour will have about only a few Spears and Twinblades, conveniently close to an explosive plasmoid, as well as a couple of Glooms in Hard difficulty which can be easily dispatched.  From there, there'll be a parallel path to the one guarded, and free from enemy fire, to the Pirate Port.  To the left of this path, close to the plasmoid, are three Volcanoids which can be destroyed to rescue a couple more of Gunboats, but the time required to destroy two of them is hardly worth it.

The Pirate Port is capable of assembling either Gunboats, Captured Icarii or a Khan Battleship.  In order to acquire the latter, the player can send the Trinity or the Ulysses past the radiation Nebula to the north where it'll encounter one Captured Icarus and two normal ones, loaded with resources.  The player only needs to send the normal Icarus to the Pirate Port as they would to a Command Station where they can collect the resources.  To the west, after handling a small force of Twinblades and a Shade, the player can destroy the central Volcanoid to go past it and rescue another Captured Icarus.

As the player gets the resources, it's recommended to get the Khan Battleship as this vessel is both sturdy and has the firepower necessary to punch through the Sylon lines to the east of the Pirate base (pinged by Zamor on the minimap after the player recaptures the Pirate Port).  The Khan will consume all of the Tachyon, and the remaining resources should be used to upgrade weapons and armor at the Research Center.  After the Khan is completed - making it two if the player did rescue the first early at the mission - the player should then move northeast, using the Khan's high HP count to tank the damage, as the player uses both the Joseon and the Ulysses to disable and neutralize threats such as the Arsons or Aegises.  Some Caldrons and Leech Mines will also be present at the second checkpoint, but can be neutralized with enough units as well.

The stellar cloud should be guarded by a few Twinblades (and an Arson in Hard difficulty), so the player should first lure the defending Twinblades using the Trinity's Flechette missile, destroying these, and then approach the Arson with the Khan battleships using the Joseon's Camouflage.  The player should be also mindful of a particular group of Twinblades and Glooms waiting to advance from behind.

From there, the player can either fight through the remaining Spears and Glooms after the stellar cloud, or simply have a Joseon Camouflage a Gunboat and fly past the defenders to reach the Jumpgate base - one unit is enough to end the mission in victory.

## History and Background

The Black Swan's knowledge of the Sylons and EIRA is eventually explained in the briefing to the next mission, *Siege Breakers*, on stolen data and information from EIRA.  It's also most likely how the pirate group indeed came to know of the Sylon forces by their name, as well as the precious cargo of the Icarus cargo ship *Daedalus* referred by Zamor in *Bear Rock*.

In *Siege Breakers*, the term Sylon is also referred by Sky-Marshal Victor Komarov, but the source is official, revealed by EIRA most likely due to the invasion of the Sol System in progress.

## Notes

Far to the northwest of the playable map is a Sylon base with defenders and production facilities, but it will never produce units or send attack forces.  Destroying this base also renders zero benefits.