Mission 16 - Revenge

## 16 - Revenge

The Hathor-4 Sylus Core, a heart of machine evils besetting men and alien.

### Aftermath

Decisive Federation-Annaki Victory* Sylus Core destroyed, Sylon forces in Hathor-4, Caribou and Sol systems rendered inactive.
* Hathor-4 System recaptured by the Athrael Theocracy.
* Cairbou System recaptured by the United Federation.
* New colonies established by the United Federation in the Barnard, Vega and Epsilon-Eridani systems.
* End of Sylon Invasion phase of the First Galactic War.

## Belligerents

* United Federation
* Annaki Order

* Sylon Collective

## Commanders

* Benjamin Colburne
* Nephral

* Sylus

## Forces

* Complete Federation arsenal.
* Athrael arsenal excluding Harbingers and Theocrats.
* UFN Fenrir

* Complete Sylon arsenal.

## Objectives

* Destroy the Sylus Core.

* Protect the Sylus Core.
* Eliminate all enemy forces.

## Casualties and losses

Extensive
Massive

## Involved Characters

* Benjamin Colburne
* Greg Leskovski
* Vera Vargas
* Nephral

*Revenge* is the sixteenth and final mission of Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors in the Five Nations campaign. Completing this mission unlocks Chapter 02 - Ascension, as well as the Prelude - Calm Before the Storm chapter in the campaign.

## Setting

As the joint expeditionary fleets of the United Federation and the Annaki Order breached through to the very vicinity of the Sylus Core, the Federation's expedition's supply lines became exhausted due to strength applied in their previous pushes. As Benjamin Colburne wanted to wait for reinforcements and supplies from the Federation Navy before committing to a final assault, the UFN Fenrir's AIDA received decoded Athrael signals, informing their intelligence had picked up further convoys of Sylon vessels, doubtlessly to reinforce the Core's main defense lines.

Both Vera Vargas, Greg Leskovski and Nephral (through Vera) pressured Colburne to launch an immediate attack before the Sylus could reorganize it's defense lines, making it impossible to break through even if the Federation Navy were to arrive - which Leskovski finds unlikely since, with communications broken, the Federation High Command likely had now considered Colburne's expedition a 'ghost division' and thus would not send ships as readily as presumed by Colburne.

Colburne was forced to cede to the pressure and thus order preparations to assault the Sylus Core with what the expedition still had.

## Into the Breach

> My fellow warriors, we view ourselves on the eve of this important battle. I know that the odds are not in our favor and we are nervous about the encounter yet to come. We must win or perish. It is vain to look for present aid: none is at hand.
>
> But when did it seem like we had a chance against the unknown? And yet we are here anyway, face to face with the demons. So let’s give him a punch and show him just how tough us humans are.
>
> Remember the Caribou, remember the Jupiter, remember all heroes who fell by the hands of our enemy! This is the time to take our revenge!
>
> - Benjamin Colburne

Colburne's forces established themselves hurriedly within the confines of an asteroid field, and still they came under attack too early by the Sylus Core's drone vessels, which came from one out of three manufacturing facilities still operational. Repelling the assault, Colburne's forces had to at least secure one front by neutralizing one of the Sylons' manufacturing facilities and take over it's resources to sustain both the defenses against the Sylon attack waves, the support for Nephral and the Annaki Order, and the attacks against the Sylus Core.

The Core itself was heavily entrenched behind the other two manufacturing complexes, reorganizing it's drone vessels constantly in defense (that the Federation and Athraels could hardly pierce through) and attack (that the allied forces could barely hold). Colburne's forces eventually identified a breach on it's defenses, leading to a direct access, through a series of asteroids that could be destroyed to open a way. This was the advantage Colburne could rely on and thus held on as some designed forces neutralized those asteroids. Colburne also, at some point, could perform improvements to the Avenger battleships almost similar to the ones on the UFN Fenrir (except the capability to build and deploy UAVs) and deploy them in battle, giving a temporary edge towards the Sylon drone ships.

As the asteroids were destroyed, Colburne's forces and the Athraels could easily advance towards the Sylus Core's flank. The Core itself was protected by heavily entrenched Aegises, Arson artillery platforms and Leech Mines, along with a defensive fleet of Gloom assault cruisers on stand-by. Yet, it was anything but harmless, as one of the Core's defensive systems revolved on sending electromagnetic gamma pulses that damaged any vessels too close to it, especially fighters and bombers, forcing so much the Federation as the Athrael forces into engaging it from a distance.

At a heavy cost, Colburne's forces did accomplish into picking off some of the Sylus Core's defenses to form up a firing line. The remaining cruisers fired away at the Core with everything they had, eventually destroying the Sylus Core.

## A New Order: Chaos

With the Sylus Core destroyed, most of the Sylon Collective's vessels were deactivated in the Hathor-4 System, as well as the drone vessels in the Caribou and Sol systems. Nephral contacted Vera Vargas, congratulating the human forces on their success, even informing their Explorers have detected Sylon vessels attacking each other. Nephral also informed Vera the United Federation had to prepare with the time they bought for upcoming events, for despite the triumph, the war was far from over.

The Annaki Order started the reclamation of the Hathor-4 System by destroying the disabled Sylon forces as the Federation's expedition returned to the Sol System, where they were receptioned as the saviors of mankind. Benjamin Colburne himself was offered a seat within the Federation's Military cabinet, while the Federation Navy reclaimed the Caribou System. The EIRA Institute's research into the Sylons' wormhole technology, far more advanced than the once Bifrost Gate in the Caribou System, also allowed the Federation to establish new colonies on the Barnard, Vega and Epsilon-Eridani systems.

For many, all of these combined events heralded the dawn of a new, peaceful age. Or so they thought...

## Walkthrough

The player starts commanding the UFN Fenrir, some Orcas, a pair of each of Hailstorms and Avengers, as well as a Dresda and a St. George with no nearby fighters, plus a base with some basic facilities but only a couple of Solar Stations and no Mining Station on the local Helium-3 asteroid field. Immediately following Colburne's speech the player will be attacked by the orange Sylon base on either both the north and eastern entrances or only the eastern entrance (as the northward meant Sylon force will be circumventing back and around their base). The player thus will be forced to defend and may even lose some structures in the process.

After repelling this attack, the player, having enough forces (especially the Fenrir and the Avengers), should immediately take the initiative and push from the north entrance towards the orange Sylon base and destroy it, as it will both take an enemy force capable of sending attack waves off the board and also offer a fruitful expansion site for a Kutuzov later on, as the orange Sylon base will have plenty of Metal and Helium-3 asteroids, plus some Tachyon asteroids as well. There are some Tachyon asteroids by the south of the player's starting base as well, but may require a long distance travel for an Icarus between both the Mining and Command Stations.

The player should also start working in building an economy, acquiring a Merchantport and some Pasteurs as quickly as possible in the meanwhile, as well as building enough Solar Stations to have at least a +20 Energy income. The player should also build a second Research Center, research upgrades for all units at them and the Astro Telescope (if still alive, if not, it should be rebuilt), as well as a second Ship Factory and at least a Dockyard, a Deep Space Lab (for the Fast Charging and Absorptive Plating upgrades), an Enrichment Plant (for additional Dresdas) and a Fleet HQ. By then the player should amass a force of Avengers, Dresdas and Hailstorms, along with Pasteur support, as well as at least one St. George fully loaded with Crows for defense or picking off defenses such as Aegises and Arsons. The Teller is optional, but recommended if heading out to siege either the red or purple Sylon bases.

To the far southern corner is the allied Athrael base which will be sending small attack waves and can defend against a modest enemy attack wave, but the Sylons will be mostly focused on the player. The Athraels will deploy mostly Intruders, Lancets, Martyrprobes, Warpgliders and Flankers, and rarely an Invader against the Sylons. The player should keep some keen watch, however, on attack waves consisting of Arsons, Plasma Raids or Eclipses, as these can tear through the frail Athrael defenses as well. If the Athrael base is destroyed, the mission is failed.

The Sylons will attack with Spears (especially with the Integrated Remodulator upgrade), Twinblades, Absorbers and Caldrons, and later on send Glooms, Arsons with Masks, Plasma Raids, Shades and Eclipses. With exception of the Spears, a full wing of Crows (over twelve) aided by a Hailstorm with detection can neutralize most threats. For the Spears, a small force of Orcas will suffice better than Hurricanes.

There are multiple ways to the Sylus Core the player can take, all of which with advantages and disadvantages. The most direct path is through the heavily defended purple Sylon base, and may require time and especially long-range bombardment by Avengers (preferably upgraded to Avenger IIs with the Fleet Reform upgrade at the Fleet HQ), but there is only one entrance towards it, which is heavily defended with both purple and red Sylon forces, so Tellers may be necessity. The longest path is through the red Sylon base to the north, which has a way past it right to the purple Sylon's mining lines, having the advantage of neutralizing both an attacking base and harm another's economy, but will take twice the time of attacking directly through the purple Sylon base, with the amount of structures and defenders to be destroyed.

Finally, the third and final (and most recommended) path is through a set of destructible asteroids to the northeast of the Athrael base and leads south and directly to the Sylus Core and is modestly defended past the asteroids, especially by Leech Mines. To neutralize these asteroids, over eight to ten Orcas should suffice, picking off one-by-one to open a large enough path for Dockyard ships while the rest of the vessels can be used to defend the player and the Athrael bases in the meanwhile. This also opens an attack at the Core's southeastern flank, which is very vulnerable to a dedicated attack of Avengers, Dresdas and Hailstorms.

The Sylus Core itself is strongly defended by Aegises around it (some especially surrounded by Support Centers), Leech Mines and deployed Arsons. A wing of Crows that aren't docked with a St. George can help neutralize some of these threats as the rest of the fleet clears the way to the Core. The Core, however, also has it's own attack, which is a gamma pulse which deals damage to all units around it (especially fighters) and is upgraded to Level 3. The Core has a small quantity of Shields that can be easily neutralized with some Dresdas, and a large quantity of Hull the Avenger battleships can easily deal with.

After the Sylus Core is destroyed, both the mission and Chapter 01 - Hostile Visitors are finished.

## Notes

The real circumstances of the Sylus Core's collapse - including the Sylon forces attacking each other - are eventually explained in *Race Against Time* in Chapter 02 - Ascension.