Progenitors
The Progenitors are a hostile, hyper-advanced race of spacing faring aliens, believed to have originated from outside of the Milky Way.
History
The Progenitors first made their debut within the Milky Way galaxy during the summer of 2297, when their Ark was first detected by gravimetric sensors roughly 30kly north west of Klendathu making their way counter clockwise along the length of the Outer Rim. Due to the massive size of the ship, it was assumed to be a near passing asteroid and not much thought was given to it.
The Citizen's Herald - August 14, 2297
Sources within Federal military intelligence today confirmed that the Federation has lost contact with three further frontier colonies - 3484 Indi VII, 2393 Dou Xiu VII, and Tevi Prime - following reports earlier this week that two other colonies on the cusp of the Epsilon Eridani systems had been lost to the Skinny threat last week. Whilst 3484 Indi, 2393 Dou Xiu and the two other colonies all numbered less than a thousand people, the attack on Tevi Prime - a much more significant colony that had a permanent Mobile Infantry garrison and some 22,000 members - is a source of significant concern within Military Intelligence circles, as it suggests that the enemy may be becoming emboldened. Sky Marshal John Hudson could not be reached for comment.The first interaction between the Progenitors and humanity occurred during August 2297, where several frontier colonies including Tevi Prime and some satellite colonies of the Epsilon Eridani system were abducted from their planet. Originally this was attributed to the skinnies, culminating in the Federation destroying a skinny religious monument in an act of retaliation.
Obviously this did not lead to an abatement of abductions and attacks, and eventually the Federation was forced to send a flotilla of Federation war ships, led by the Dreadnought Topham - all of which were destroyed presumably by the Progenitors.
The Battle of Terra Neue
Also known as Operation Omega
As August came to an end, the largest Federation frontier colony of Terra Neue which sits in the Perseus Arm (home to the Arachnids and the skinnies) was attacked by the Progenitors. By lucky coincidence, Federation diplomats were in communication with the planet as the attack began to commence, and although they were cut off shortly before the arrival of the Progenitors, were able to raise the alarm that the colony had been attacked and give the Federation an opportunity to defend it.
A task force of nearly 70 Federation warships were assembled including the Audie Murphy and were dispatched to challenge what was presumed to be the skinnie fleet in orbit over Terra Neue. Upon arrival, they encountered no skinnies: only the single ship that makes up the Progenitor fleet, the Progenitor Ark.
In the coming space battle between the Federation ships and the Progenitor ark, a total of 62 Federation warships were destroyed (including the Murphy), whilst no damage was inflicted upon the Ark. Eyewitness testimony attributes this shocking victory to the fact that the Ark had "some form of energy shield" protecting it and it appeared to leverage energy-based weapons over the conventional projectile-based tech used by most of the Milky Wayian species.
The 112th Mobile Infantry and surviving crew of the Audie Murphy were stranded on planet, tasked with a single objective: escape.
Day 1
The first day of the campaign was devoted to regrouping with the other elements of surviving Mobile Infantry led by Colonel Brian C. Larsen, who had taken refuge in a metro station in the city of Bahlstrom.
The 112th arrived to the planet via an escape pod shortly after the destruction of the Mobile Infantry, landing in an arctic ocean roughly a kilometer from shore. Suffering from an array of injuries, with several troopers suffering the onset of hypothermia, they set out across the ocean, taking advantage of the fractured ice sheet that sat between them and the cliff-laden shore.
Upon arrival, they found an abandoned oil hub, which they climbed and took shelter in whilst their wounded were attended to. The elevator to the surface was unfortunately found to be destroyed, and it was resolved that a trio of troopers would have to summit the cliff edge by hand. During the course of this summit, decorated Engineering Specialist Robbie "Rabbi" Malarky unfortunately lost his life when he slipped and fell to his death below.
Once the remnants of the Audie Murphy's crew made the surface, they encountered and engaged in combat the Progenitor thralls and the Progenitor edifices for the first time.
After a long trek across the arctic tundra, they eventually regrouped with Colonel Larsen in the metro station beneath the city, where the MI regathered their strength and partook in patrols and the defence of the tunnels.
Day 2
The second day of the campaign focused on locating the Sephton: a decommissioned Federation warship that had served as the primary starship of the 117th Mobile Infantry (Zeta Community). The ship was rumoured to be in a scrapyard in orbit over the planet, and likely served as the MI's only hope of escaping Terra Neue.
Day 2 opened to a small contingent of Mobile Infantry being sent to the surface to scout out the city above - to both survey the Progenitor defences, and to locate any remaining government buildings that might hold the clue to the exact location of the Sephton. They discovered that a defensive perimeter had been established around the centre of the city, and also located the likely Federal building that might hold the information the MI sought. Additionally they came upon a troop of Progenitors loading captured humans into pods, presumably for transport.
Later that day, the Mobile Infantry were sent in force to disassemble the perimeter established by the Progenitors, which they quickly achieved. Inside the Federal building, they found the location of a Federation shipping station - which would likely have a copy of the shipping manifest, which in turn would hold the exact location of the Sephton.
They proceeded northwards, wading through deep, marshy swamps to the location of the Federation shipping station, all the while facing numerous challenges from the Progenitor ground forces. Here they learned the location of the Sephton, but also the location of a nearby perimeter defence station: it was resolved that, in order to prevent the Sephton being shot out of the sky much like the Murphy the day before, a diversion would be needed, and therefore the MI would capture the perimeter defence station and task the perimeter defence system as a whole with providing a distraction on command and providing the Sephton with cover so that it might escape.
Having achieved this objective, they returned to the metro - where one final surprise lay in store: upon a routine patrol, the MI forces came into Captain George Fodder (117 M.I., Ret.) and a handful of his former 117 infantrymen, who agreed to assist the MI in capturing the Sephton during the following day.
The MI continued to defend and patrol the tunnels overnight - noting that the Progenitor assaults were getting fiercer and fiercer, suggesting that they were slowly but surely zeroing in on the location of the last remnants of humanity's resistance on Terra Neue.
Day 3
The third day was the culmination of the effort of the previous two days: the escape from Terra Neue.
After a full scale assault on the metro station by the Progenitor forces it was made clear that the station was no longer safe, and it was resolved now was the time to exact their plan to capture the Sephton and use it to escape.
Amongst fierce fighting through the city, they eventually made their way to the Federation airbase mentioned above. Following an hour long battle to reclaim it, the MI split into two teams: one led by Captain Fodder and including most of the engineers were sent via dropship to capture the Sephton and to make it space-worthy, with the remainder tasked with remaining on the ground to receive the truckloads of non-combatants who had been rescued or found their way to the metro station over the course of the invasion.
Captain Fodder's team quickly took control of the station and the Sephton and set to work making it spaceworthy, including refuelling the ship and repairing or replacing damaged components that had perished over the course of its abandonment.
On the ground, after receiving the go ahead to begin sending the non-combatants space-wards, they began to send dropship-loads full of infantry and non-combatants alike to the Sephton under cover of MI fire. Most of the dropships were successful, however unfortunately the third boat was shot down by Progenitor forces, leading to the presumed death of decorated Mobile Infantry Staff Sergeant Wauri Matene.
With one final issue involving the docking clamps aboard the Sephton resolved, and under the cover of fire by the planetary perimeter defence network, the remnants of the Audie Murphy and the 117th escaped Terra Neue. It should be noted that the perimeter defence network caused little to no noticeable damage to the Progenitor Ark - but did serve as well as a distraction.
Shortly after, the 112th Mobile Infantry and the former crew of the Murphy were assigned to the newly commissioned Ulysses S. Grant.
