Mission to the Chrome System

Combatants| * Joint Expedition Task Force
	+ Red Wood Industries
	+ Crazy North Logistics
	+ Royal Coalition of Spatial Protection

Commanders| * Admiral Jack Roberts
* Admiral Kieron Hask (late mission)
* Captain [[Sam Reed]
* Captain Steven Dawson (early mission)
* Captain Jonathan Hunter (late mission)
* Captain Tevin Myers
* Colonel Jorgen Larson
* Commander Craz
* Commander Michael Lynch (early mission)
* Michael Lynch (mid-late mission)

The **Mission to the Chrome System**, also known as the **Mission to Chrome II** or the **Joint Expedition Task Force Mission**, was an expedition launched into the unknown reaches of the galaxy headed by the Joint Expedition Task Force (JETF), a coalition of Red Wood Industries (RWI), Crazy North Logistics (CNL), and the Royal Coalition of Spatial Protection (RCSP). However, upon arriving in the Chrome System, the JETF were attacked by a faction called the Remnant, who clashed with them many times on the planet Chrome II.

## History

### Prelude

Approximately one year after the end of the Green Drone War, a mysterious signal was discovered being broadcast from a remote region of space. Since the signal's origin had connections to the war's antagonist faction, the Green Drone Armada, RWI and its allies CNL and RCSP formed a Joint Expedition Task Force and pooled their resources together to set out and investigate the signal. The RWI *Prometheus*, a massive colony/exploration starship, was appointed the flagship of the operation, and a small fleet of RWI ships was on standby. Although the JETF was commanded by various leaders of all three factions (Captain Sam Reed for RWI, Colonel Jorgen Larson for CNL, and Captain Tevin Myers for RCSP), the mission as a whole was led by RWI Admiral Jack Roberts.

### Arrival At Chrome II

On July 23, 2734, the JETF set out on the mission, travelling to the Chrome System and orbiting the planet Chrome II, a Type-M planet. However, immediately upon their arrival, the ship's comms and sensors were immediately jammed, and a large battleship approached and began firing on the *Prometheus* with strange energy projectiles, dealing heavy damage to its shields. The *Prometheus*' captain, Steven Dawson, ordered responses to the damage, ordering his second-in-command, Commander Michael Lynch, to assist in the engine room. Commander Craz of CNL led a squadron of V-203 Fighters against the battleship, distracting it. With the *Prometheus*' FTL core offline, Admiral Roberts ordered all JETF landing forces to disembark and land on the surface of Chrome II. However, several landing ships were damaged upon their descent, scattering many JETF personnel all across the planet. Meanwhile, the *Prometheus*' meager weaponry was able to force the enemy warship to retreat, but the *Prometheus* itself had taken serious damage, leaving it stranded in orbit.

### Trek to the Ancient City

Admiral Roberts' own ship, a Pioneer-class Landing Ship, was shot down and crashed near a mountain with a large spire atop it. Fortunately, he, Captain Reed, and Lieutenant Commander Castle, all survived, and began making their way towards the spire. On the way, they found another crashed RWI dropship and its only survivor, Lieutenant Collier, who joined them. They continued on until they found a derelict structure guarded by gray-suited hostiles, who were all taken out by the RWI team. Eventually, they reached the summit, finding a second spire atop the mountain. Entering one of them, the four used a mysterious teleportation device to transport themselves to the second tower.

They then continued along the mountain range, eventually coming to a large communications tower, which they used to contact the *Prometheus*. Once there, they were joined by Commander Craz and another V-203 pilot who had also been shot down, and another crash survivor, Lieutenant Timedoctor, one of the JETF research personnel. However, they were followed by an enemy carrier of the same faction that owned the battleship, which deployed gunships loaded with soldiers to attack the tower. Fortunately, the *Prometheus* was able to use long-range torpedoes to destroy the carrier, allowing the RWI squad to escape in a damaged RWI Valkyrie-class Dropship. However, they were soon shot down by another enemy gunship, forcing them to fight on foot to another derelict outpost, where they contacted the *Prometheus* again, which deployed drop pods filled with supplies to their position, then continued on first in two ground transports, then along a river in a boat (after raiding a base belonging to the faction, which they learned was called The Remnant), and finally in another aircraft stolen from the Remnant base at the end of the river.

Meanwhile, the Remnant also attacked the surviving forces of the RCSP personnel, who had regrouped after the crashes. Although Captain Tevin Myers and a number of troops were able to escape in a few RCSP gunships, many other RCSP men, including Myers' second-in-command, were killed, and many supplies were lost. Colonel Larson, his XO Major Eriksson, and the other surviving CNL personnel also managed to meet up at an abandoned supply base, where they congregated their remaining troops and vehicles and waited for further orders. In orbit, it was revealed that Commander Lynch had all but disappeared during the opening battle. Secretly, he had lost his faith in the JETF's objectives during the battle and abandoned ship along with a handful of other like-minded RWI personnel, hiding out on Chrome II for a time. He was presumed dead, although not listed on the *Prometheus*' casualty list, and Lieutenant Commander Kyan was made the acting XO of the *Prometheus* as a result.

### The City of the First Ones

As Admiral Roberts and his crew neared a large city-like structure, they fought off the pursuing waves of Remnant forces, losing their stolen ship in the process. They were soon teleported once again, this time into the main atrium of the city. From there, they explored many areas, including several research labs containing bizarre flora and technology, a large hangar bay, and the command center at the top of the main tower. As the team began to study the ancient city, they soon learned it was built by an extinct people known only as "The First Ones", who were also responsible for creating the Artifacts - large, black monoliths that were highly powerful when used correctly, and were highly sought after by the GDA during the war. They contacted the *Prometheus* again, coordinating with Dawson to find the rest of the surviving RWI personnel, where Roberts was also informed of Lynch's disappearance. Soon, the rest of the surviving RWI personnel (minus Lynch's group) were able to make their way to the city, which the JETF turned into their base of operations.

#### Treachery

Admiral Roberts later dispatched Commander Craz to locate the CNL or RCSP forces, but shortly after setting out, Craz was captured by Lynch's rogue forces, who had commandeered a large rover called the *Tempest*. Before Lynch could reach the rest of his squad, the *Tempest* was attacked by a squad of CNL Marines led by Colonel Larson, who disabled the vehicle. Craz was able to escape in the chaos and met up with Larson, who brought him back to the CNL's hideout. Lynch was able to escape in a stolen RWI Vulture-class Helicopter before he was captured himself.

#### Drone Disaster

Meanwhile, in orbit, the *Prometheus*' repairs were mostly ineffective, and resources were being depleted fast. Captain Dawson had previously asked Roberts multiple times for permission to activate Project X-12, a highly controversial and experimental project that made use of reprogrammed GDA Sentry Drones to serve RWI's needs, which had been carried aboard the *Prometheus* (much to Roberts' chagrin). Every time, Roberts had denied the requests, but Dawson, realizing the situation was dire, disobeyed orders and activated them anyway. Instead of repairing the *Prometheus*, however, the drones went rogue and began wreaking havoc on the ship, causing a battle with security teams. The drones also began hacking into the *Prometheus*' systems and locking the crew out, taking over the ship and soon forcing it to crash-land on Chrome II. Dawson ordered all remaining personnel to either evacuate or brace themselves for the crash, with himself, Kyan, and the bridge crew staying behind to try and force the ship into a safer landing.

### Battle of the Ancient City

As the *Prometheus* was being destroyed from within, the ancient city soon came under attack by another Remnant carrier, backed up by many fighters and gunships. The Remnant's leader, Archon, coordinated the battle from the ship's command center. Despite gaining access to the city's shield generator and hidden arsenal of laser weaponry, the RWI forces were slowly pushed back as the fighters strafed the city and dueled with the RWI Vultures, while the gunships landed ground troops throughout the city. Fortunately, the RCSP forces arrived just in time, destroying several fighters and damaging the carrier. Archon angrily ordered the carrier to retreat, and the RCSP and RWI forces finished off the remaining fighters, gunships, and soldiers, despite taking damage to the city and losing several Vultures. After the battle was over, Captain Myers met with Roberts and Reed and they spoke about the situation. Myers then ordered the RCSP troops to help the RWI troops repair the city.

### Securing the *Prometheus*

About twelve hours after the *Prometheus*' crash-landing, JETF scouts picked up the ship's black box and distress beacon. Roberts, Reed, Myers, and a team of RWI and RCSP troops made their way to the crash site, finding the colossal ship split in half. To Roberts' horror, he found the surviving Project X-12 drone units engaged in a heated battle with Remnant troops. Upon finding out about the drones, the rest of the RWI and RCSP personnel were stunned, but Roberts promised an explanation later. They then fought their way inside the ship and to the bridge, but Dawson and the rest of the bridge crew were missing. They did discover that the drones had hacked the ship's systems, and Roberts and Reed discussed the suspicious nature of the situation, while Time downloaded the remaining data from the main computer. Afterwards, the team evacuated, proceeding to fight off Remnant forces and X-12 Drones at the dorsal Pioneer landing bay, where Myers' Wyvern-class Gunship picked up the team and flew them back to the city.

#### Fractures

Upon their return, Myers berated Roberts about RWI's secret usage of drones, which were in direct violation of the Kyron Accords. Although Roberts defended himself, saying that he disagreed with the decision to bring Project X-12 with the JETF and not authorizing their activation, Myers insisted that he would be speaking to RCSP's superiors about this. A short time later, Colonel Larson, Craz, and the CNL forces arrived at the city, where Craz informed Roberts of Lynch's defection. Larson then learned about the drones during a meeting between him, Roberts, Reed, Craz, and Myers, and agreed with Myers' sentiment about the legality of the drones. Roberts reiterated that he objected to their creation as well, and told them to focus on the problems at hand - the city's transmitter array was inoperable, leaving the JETF forces unable to contact reinforcements; Roberts told the men to organize searches for nearby transmitter towers to take over and send a signal from, and the meeting was adjourned.

(to be continued)