The ISA fleet designated Battle Group Mandrake was a military task force that participated in Operation Archangel during the Second Extrasolar War. Placed under the command of Colonel Jan Templar, Battle Group Mandrake, along with other battle groups, was part of the second wave of the assault force that invaded Helghan. It consisted of 24 ISA Cruisers, comprised of one division of ISA Legionnaires, and 10 divisions of ISA Marines under the flagship New Sun.
History[]
Operation Archangel[]
Battle Group Mandrake was successful in capturing Pyrrhus City as well as destroying the Arc Tower defenses of the capital, making it the more successful of the two other Battle Groups sent to Helghan. Despite early success, the Battle Group suffered very heavy casualties, with most of its cruisers—including the New Sun—destroyed by Helghast forces and the majority of its ground troops annihilated by the nuclear weapon Red Dust. Finally, the Battle Group's ultimate objective of capturing the dictator Scolar Visari has failed after he was killed by Special Forces Sergeant Rico Velasquez.
The surviving marines and naval evacuees of Battle Group Mandrake were then stranded at Visari Palace as a massive Helghast fleet began its counterattack on the Battle Group's few remaining ISA Cruisers. Given orders to evacuate the planet, the ISA's ordered withdrawal soon became a rout, with many units isolated and destroyed piecemeal by the overwhelming and enraged Helghast forces. Further worsening matters, the remaining ISA Cruisers, that were unable to reach orbit, were finally destroyed by the Helghast's MAWLRs and fleet counterattack, leaving the stranded ISA ground troops little choice but to hide and fight on for mere survival.
Stranded on Helghan[]
Six months later, the ISA stranded on Helghan had split into two groups. One under Captain Jason Narville and the other under Rico Velasquez. After Narville was able to establish contact with Vekta, it was discovered that the Vektan colonial government capitulated to the Helghast's demands, the war was officially over and the ISA remnants on Helghan were to surrender, where they'd be negotiated for as prisoners. Naturally they refused, having acknowledged the atrocities committed by the Helghast towards their prisoners. Narville was captured and his forces were routed by Stahl Arms' Private Army, but then rescued and reunited by Rico's forces. In the process it was discovered that Chairman Jorhan Stahl had planned on destroying the United Colonial Nations capital world of Earth, through the use of an experimental cruiser carrying hundreds of missiles tipped with warheads containing irradiated petrusite. This would result in the deaths of billions, and the UCN would be severely weakened and surrender to Stahl.
Saving Earth and Causing the Terracide[]
After overcoming the numerous hardships and setbacks, the ISA remnants finally found a way to escape Helghan and stop Stahl after fighting tooth and nail across the planet. Eventually, the ISA forces board a Helghast space station and hijack two Helghast strike fighters. They then use the fighters to destroy the experimental cruiser. The cruiser's destructive payload was then detonated over Helghan due to secondary explosions, violently irradiating the entire planet, leaving only a fifth of the population alive and obliterating the entirety of a massive Helghast invasion fleet destined for Earth. This event was known as the Terracide.
Managing to avoid the cataclysmic explosion in time, the remaining ISA troops of Battle Group Mandrake on board the hijacked strike fighters then made their way back home to Vekta, but were horrified at what they had inadvertently done.
Aftermath[]
Out of the 180,000 men and women in Battle Group Mandrake that were sent to Helghan, only a few dozen soldiers and possibly a small amount of cruisers returned to Vekta. The troops that were involved with the Terracide likely went into hiding and have probably left Vekta altogether, in order to avoid the surviving and vengeful Helghast as they are aware of their involvement. Most notably that of Tomas Sevchenko and Rico Velasquez, as they were piloting the strike fighter that destroyed Stahl's cruiser.
Composition[]
Known ships[]
- ISSC New Sun (Flagship)
- ISA Arcturus
- ISA Bright Dawn
- ISA Compulsion
- ISA Cromwell
- ISA Dauntless
- ISA Denver
- ISA De Ruyter
- ISA Moor Time
- ISA Mora
- ISA St. Nicolaas
- ISA St. Paul
- ISA Zephyr
Known Members[]
- Colonel Jan Templar (Fleet Commander)
- Doctor Evelyn Batton
- Captain Jason Narville
- Master Sergeant Rico Velasquez
- Sergeant Shawn Natko
- Sergeant First Class Tomas Sevchenko
- Lance Corporal Dante Garza
- Corporal Jammer
- Corporal Hooper
Trivia[]
- The Battle Group was named after the late General Mandrake, whom Templar met during the events of Killzone: Liberation.
- Battle Group Mandrake was just one of the many Battle Groups that took part in the Helghan invasion, however, not much is known about the rest of them. What happened to them in unknown, but, since the ISA forces were forced to withdraw from Helgan, it is unlikely that they were any more successful than Battle Group Mandrake. After the Vektan government ordered the ISA forces to evacuate, the other Battle Groups withdrew from the planet as well.