The Procyon Insurgency - Post-Campaign Story Document

This essay was written in response to some of the questions asked in the discussion thread on HLP following the release of the campaign. Much of this information can be deduced from various clues given to the player during the campaign, particularly the conversation between Dasmar and Sriv in mission 13 ("Eye of the Storm"), but some aspects of the story are more obscure and are elaborated on here.

The Ancients' actions are briefly described in the mission 15 command briefing. What is implied is that they not only left some of their people on Earth and Vasuda Prime, but also kept one of those transmitter devices floating around in long-range orbit around each planet. The devices were to remain completely dormant in order to avoid detection by the Shivans. They then left that part of the galaxy and programmed all the Knossos portals in Terran-Vasudan space (of which there are many) to shut down behind them, thus allowing their planetary cells to develop without the Shivans' interference. The Ancient fleet then dispersed in thousands of different directions across the galaxy to throw the Shivans off, in an attempt to stave off their extinction for as long as possible.

Around 2360, Dasmar extracted a series of Ancient records from the moon of Procyon VII. He had learned of their location from the HOL many years ago, but hadn't been able to conduct any investigation there without arousing attention until he had risen high enough in the GTVA hierarchy. From these artifacts, he learned about the existence of the two devices. The records indicated that the devices are components of a powerful, subspace-based transmitter. If and when the Terrans and Vasudans progressed far enough to develop space (and subspace) travel, the Ancients had expected the two species to find their respective components, recognize that they are identical and bring them both to one location, upon which they would combine with each other. The completed transmitter would notify all remaining Ancient forces in the universe that the Terrans and Vasudans are operating freely in space, slowly reopen all the Knossos portals and pave the way for the Ancients' splinter groups to all make a mass return to that part of the universe. The artifacts suggested that if the Ancients managed to have any significant forces and manpower still remaining by that point, they intended to use T-V space as the starting point for a new empire.

The Ancients' plan worked up to a point, since as mentioned in the campaign, the PVN had discovered the Vasudan component long ago, while the GTA (through the GTI) had found the Terran component at some point as well. However, the Ancients never considered that the Terrans and Vasudans might evolve so far apart that they would actually view each other as enemies, fight a prolonged war and eventually bring the Shivans back into that part of space through their own actions, intentionally or otherwise.

Dasmar wanted to ensure that in spite of these setbacks, the Ancients' plan would come to fruition. He thought that it was only a matter of time before the Shivans returned and destroyed the Terran-Vasudan civilization once and for all. In his view, the only way they could continue to survive was to seek the Ancients' help and to rapidly expand their boundaries across space. Together, Dasmar believed that the three species would become invincible and would be able to take the fight to the Shivans. However, he first had to take possession of both components.

In 2365, Dasmar discovered that the GTVA now had the Vasudan component and was secretly holding on to it, for reasons unknown to him. His attempts to learn more had all met with failure, even when he was a fleet Admiral, and it became clear to him that he would have to seize the component by force. However, one thing he did discover was that the GTI had been in control of the Terran component just after the Great War and had last moved it to Procyon, seemingly on the way to another destination, which could only be the nebula system and beyond. He also knew that the Shivans had a large fleet in the nebula, a lot more than what is seen in mission 14. Since there was no record of the GTI ships ever having returned, he surmised that they had been stranded or destroyed in the nebula, and that the Terran half was most likely still somewhere there. He had to build up a powerful military force to acquire both components, and the introduction of the controversial SDE in 2367 created a convenient launching pad from which he was able to form the PCA.

Even with the PCA navy at his command, Dasmar realized that he could not fight both the GTVA and the Shivans simultaneously and have any chance of success. However, he had seen the Meson bombs in action and saw their potential as an offensive weapon in a nebula environment. In empty space, they could easily be tracked from a distance, but in the nebula, the Shivans would be unable to detect the units until they actually went off, and the thick gas would allow the shockwaves to propagate much further than they would in empty space. The bombs could be used to severely weaken the Shivan forces near the Terran component. Several extra bombs had been produced at the Hideki Institute in 2367, in case something went wrong with the Bastion or the Nereid. Dasmar, who had become popular even in many GTVA systems in the months following the PCA's creation, was able to buy off certain key individuals there and secretly appropriate three of these bombs, although only two of them actually made it into the nebula.

The Vasudan Emperor Khonsu II, the single most powerful person in the GTVA, had also discovered the Ancients' plan many years earlier. However, he had a very different vision of how the Terran-Vasudan civilization should proceed forward. He knew that the Ancients' rapid expansion and conquests across space were what provoked the Shivans. If they returned to Terran-Vasudan space, their pride and arrogance ensured that they would, after initial consolidation, restart this process of expansion and soon incur the Shivans' wrath once again. The Shivans, in his view, are simply too powerful. They would again annihilate the Ancients, and the Terrans and Vasudans along with them (which the Shivans view as all being the same species, as Dasmar once mentions). He believed that the only way forward was to keep the existing Terran-Vasudan systems permanently isolated, and that this would ensure that the Shivans would never return to T-V space. He needed to keep the Ancients away to accomplish this, so Khonsu did everything he could to prevent the components from linking up. He also wanted to make sure that their existence remained a secret, as his views would not necessarily win popular support. Like Dasmar, Khonsu wanted to accelerate the pace of cooperation between Terrans and Vasudans, which is why the Security Council released the information about a common ancestry in the mission 15 command briefing, but it can be noted that they said nothing about the components or even the current existence of the Ancients.

By December 2368 (when the campaign begins), the Vasudan component was stored at a high security GTVI base in Mirfak. When Dasmar discovered that the GTVA was going to transfer it out of that system soon, he immediately attacked, and he succeeded despite eventually having to pull out of Epsilon Pegasi. In mission 3 ("Contested Recovery"), the player encounters a PCA freighter carrying the component away. The unknown ships there are SOC forces trying to take it back (or destroy it if possible), operating under top secret orders from the Security Council. However, Dasmar's elite squad ultimately defeated them and their mission was a failure.

The PCA also found something else at the GTVI base: the SC Agni, a cruiser that the SOC had captured before the Capella explosion as part of a routine operation to learn more about Shivan technology. Dasmar saw a new opportunity there, a means to acquire the Terran component that would require no warfare on the nebula front at all, and changed his strategy. He could commandeer the Agni and bring the components together right in the nebula. Since the Agni would give off Shivan heat and electronic signatures, the Shivans would not notice anything until the transmitter was already active. The meson bombs, which had been moved into the nebula by that point, would still be kept in place in case something went wrong. Dasmar proceeded to carry out his plan in mission 14. However, he did not account for the presence of one of the Ancients' splinter groups in that very system and their battle with the Shivans right as he was putting his plan into effect, which meant that he was forced to blow his cover well before he intended to. Despite that, his plan succeeded in the end, at least insofar as the components were linked up. The transmission was sent out and the Ancients were drawn back to T-V space, even though Dasmar did not live to see the consequences of his efforts.

The events of the final mission with the Ancients attacking the Alliance are intentionally left vague in the campaign. They were supposed to be the subject of a sequel to PI that was once planned, where the player would take the role of a PCA pilot. However, the sequel was only ever a vague concept and was cancelled, so this story ends with the conclusion of PI.