“	A crimson algae has propagated wildly across this entire planet, coating its rocky hills with a constant red that masks the spilt blood of the heroes who defend it from tyranny.	„
	~ Official Description

Charon Prime is one of the five planets that reside within the Andromeda Sector.

Topography and Astrography

Similar to planets like Ingmar and Ubanea, Charon Prime is a planet populated by an unknown kind of crimson algae that covers the surface of its main supercontinent, as well as the 3 islands that float in its oceans. The geography across the planet is very rough, as the hilly terrain features lots of tall rocks and steep ridges and chasms that often lead to the sea. However, white sand beaches are not uncommon on Charon Prime. The planet is besieged by constant Ion Storms product of high electromagnetic activity occurring on Charon's atmosphere. These Ion Storms will disable all Stratagems except for any SEAF Artillery that is activated during the mission.

Charon Prime is not home to any Mega Cities or facilities of importance to the Galactic War. However, Charon Prime's surface is home to multiple scattered urban settlements that house its rural population. Additionally, the undeveloped wilderness is itself dotted with various dwellings, farms and small frontierspeople encampments.

Charon Prime is the closest planet to its eponymous star. Besides Charon Prime, there are at least 3 other astronomical bodies in the Charon System, which are a gas giant, its orbiting moon and a volcanic planet with its own planetary ring system around it. Additionally, at least one orange nebula can be observed from Charon Prime's orbit.

The Charon System's position in the Galactic Map makes it a crucial chokepoint that controls access to the Trigon and Nanos Sectors through its FTL Links to Bekvam III and Choepessa IV. It is also a crucial entry point towards the core of the Andromeda Sector, as it leads directly into Martale, a critical planet sitting on the western flank of the Automaton Legion.

History

Second Galactic War

Automaton Invasion of Cyberstan

Charon Prime had been a peaceful planet colony of Super Earth for around a century after the First Galactic War, its colonists thriving among the lush fields of its distinct crimson algae. However, the Automatons, programmed to destroy Democracy and hate freedom, would prove incapable of appreciating their lifestyle.

On April 3rd 2184, a mere 2 days after their righteous extermination after the victory at Malevelon Creek, the Automatons returned with a massive fleet, larger than the one seen months before. From deep space, they would first take over the Valdis Sector and conquer Cyberstan, then would begin to slowly spread their filthy mechanized socialism all over the Western Galactic Rim, one planet at a time.

While the Helldivers had managed to stop the Automaton advance at the Menkent-Lesath Line, the Automatons had decided to push southwest, towards the location of their previous occupations. After switfly capturing Matar Bay and Martale, the Automatons lunged at Charon Prime while the Helldivers, now split between the crisis produced by the failure of the TCS Towers and the Automaton invasions, were occupied defending other planets. Charon's colonial defenses put up an excellent fight, but would inevitably collapse to the robotic onslaught, allowing Charon Prime to be occupied and allowing the Automatons to spread towards the Trigon Sector through Choepessa IV and into Charball-VII, from where they'd later attempt a return into the Xzar Sector.

Operation Andromeda

Charon Prime would remain occupied from May to July, with the Helldivers unable to help it and its colonists having to resist their socialist occupiers for months in order to avoid capture (and, almost assuredly, guaranteed execution). It seemed that all hope was lost but, as Liberty would have it, a chance would glimmer from the horizon.

After a series of key victories at Varylia 5, Wasat, Vernen Wells and the Xzar Sector, the Automatons' iron grip upon their odious fief, now spanning a vast expanse of planets from Vandalon IV to Merga IV, had revealed itself as a great weakness against the righteous, steadfast force that were the Helldivers, unshakeable in their convictions despite all the adversities they had faced so far. With this weakness fresh in the mind, Super Earth High Command would issue an order asking for the capture of Matar Bay, Martale, Marfark and the recently fallen Aesir Pass, said planets being in a line formation that could split the bot forces in half, leaving all of their western domain disconnected and ripe for liberation.

After successfully liberating Aesir Pass on the 14th, Matar Bay on the 15th and Marfark at the early hours of the 16th, Martale would be captured right before the midnight of July 17th, successfully severing the Automaton Forces in half, leaving the Ymir, Trigon and Andromeda Sectors completely disconnected from Cyberstan, which would cripple the garrisons in all of their planets, leaving them unable to reverse any progress done towards their liberation.

Operation Righteous Expunge

The campaign to liberate Charon Prime began immediately after the liberation of Martale and, shortly after, Super Earth High Command would issue a major order for its liberation, alongside with Choepessa IV and Charbal-VII. On the midnight of July 18th, Charon Prime would be liberated.

Operation Ink & Thunder

Ever since the crimson world's final liberation in July 2184, the planet would remain untouched all the way into the new year, with the Automatons mainly focusing on gaining ground both to the east and closer to Super Earth. Then, with the shocking return of the Illuminate in December 2184, most SEAF West efforts would effectively be shut down while there was relatively little action on the bot front, with the bots launching a few, successful invasions into the new year while the Helldivers claimed a massive tactical success against the bots in early February.

On February 8, 2185, High Command would immediately order all Helldivers to the galactic south as the Illuminate were shockingly harvesting Dark Energy to move the Meridian Singularity close to Super Earth, with its current trajectory headed for Angel's Venture. This rapidly unfolding disaster would buy the bots time to begin reclaiming ground out West which they would abuse, as expected of their vile socialist mechanized programming.

In the early morning hours on February 10, 2185, the Automatons of Martale launched an invasion of Charon Prime, sending 9 invasion fleets to the bloody red planet. For the first 10 hours, the defense of Charon Prime looked to be a lost cause. However, the Helldivers did not lose hope. In order to save Charon, the Helldivers would have to allow the Illuminate to escape at Emorath by allowing the Democracy Space Station to relocate to Charon Prime despite the orders from High Command being to focus on quashing any and all Illuminate invasions.

This sacrifice would not be in vain as, in just 4 hours, the Helldivers managed to quickly gain an advantage over the Automatons before the Illuminate then resurfaced again at Shete. With the advantage on their side, the Helldivers were able to comfortably split again to tackle the alien aggressor while having assurance that the devious robots had been contained and that Charon Prime would remain free. With 2 hours before planetary defense collapse, the Helldivers successfully crushed the invading Automatons and secured the residents of Charon Prime once again.

Following the liberation of Fori Prime after a grueling 6 day battle against an overwhelmingly formidable Gloom-infused Terminid presence, the Automatons of Matar Bay assaulted Meissa once more in tandem with an attack on Charon Prime by the bots at Martale. Both attacks would be repelled with ease.

Operation Good Samaritan

However, the Automatons would prove that their two previous attempts at taking over the planet were mere scout forces. Less than a day after their small invasion fleet was routed, the bots of Martale sent a massive 18 Automaton Battalions toward Charon, showing to Super Earth just how far their unquenchable socialist thirst for claiming the crimson world would go. The attack was timed simultaneously with a massive level 19 invasion of Bekvam III in the previously untouched Nanos Sector, while the attacks also came roughly 7 hours after the Terminids sent 17 million broods toward Grand Errant.

With the Helldivers facing Orders stating that only one of Julheim or Duma Tyr could be saved, the majority of the Corps opted to take on the robot force at Bekvam with the planet connected to both targets of the Order. This left the massive assault on Charon overwhelmingly underdefended, and the bots would grow an insurmountable lead against its colonial defenses less than 16 hours into the campaign.

By around 5 PM-SEST on February 26, Charon Prime would fall to the Automatons, but not before the DSS with its active Orbital Blockade made it to the planet. Yet, this would not be the end of the story. While the Orbital Blockade prevented the Automatons at Charon from advancing towards Charbal-VII, the Automatons at Marfark quickly capitalized and sent another invasion fleet towards Bekvam III, forcing the Helldivers to relocate to Bekvam III to defend it. Then, once the DSS Orbital Blockade was deactivated following resource depletion, the Automatons at Charon Prime immediately moved to attack Charbal-VII. For 17 hours, the Helldivers fought as hard as Managed Democracy allowed them. It looked as if all was lost.

However, it was not Liberty's will for her bravest heroes to be defeated. The Automatons would then mysterious see their entire military capabilities collapse, giving the Helldivers a massive opening for them to stage a successful counterattack. This opening would be quickly capitalized on, as the Helldivers managed to both repel the attack at Bekvam III and liberate Charon Prime, which in turn ended the attack at Charbal-VII, in a miraculous victory that many had not even anticipated.

Following this miracle, all of the ongoing Galactic campaigns would be halted by order of Super Earth High Command until further notice, which allowed Charon Prime to enjoy a well-earned breath of respite

For about a month.

Operation Tormenta de Fuego

By the end of March 2185, the Automatons had been mostly pushed back into their positions in the Lacaille Sector. However, they would soon reveal a new abomination to the galaxy. The Incineration Corps, a specialized unit of Automatons equipped with incendiary weapons and munitions, tailor-made to burn Liberty to Cinders. During the initial western push of the Automaton offensive, Charon Prime would be attacked by a detachment of Automatons coming from Bekvam III on March 28th along with Julheim; which was attacked by the main troop of the Incineration Corps ,mere hours after Bekvam III fell to the Incineration Corps. The Helldivers would try to capture Bekvam III in hopes of cutting Charon's and Julheim's offensives short. However, miscommunication and additional operation objectives requiring the Helldivers to be diverted towards the Terminid Front would doom this gambit and, in return, doomed Charon Prime to occupation.

Operation Trooper Deatomization

Charon Prime would remain occupied by the Automatons ever since its fall during Operation Tormenta de Fuego. Despite the defeat at the Battle of Pöpli IX leaving the Automaton garrison of nearby Charbal-VII depleted, the Helldivers would instead focus most of their resources on retaking the Xzar and Nanos Sectors before Operation Crew Downtime Adjustment ordered the Helldivers towards Wezen, which meant that, while Charon Prime was open for liberation, it would see no campaigns until, on June 27th, Bekvam III was captured again by the Automatons during Operation Jet Crusade, dooming Charon Prime once again.

However, Liberty was not about to abandon Charon Prime just yet. On the 11th of August, 2185, following the complete liberation of the Nanos Sector, High Command would authorize fleetwide usage of the Orbital Railcannon Stratagem with reduced waiting period between calldowns in the Andromeda Sector for the next 42 hours -- with the majority of Helldivers deploying to Charon Prime.

These efforts were part of a larger, ongoing diplomatic and public relations campaign, which aimed to prove to the Automatons (and the Federation) that their brutish scare tactics are ineffective, with the Helldivers are ordered to destroy a designated number of Automaton Conscripts with the Railcannon Stratagem. With this boost to their firepower (with reports of individual Helldivers calling in as many as six orbital railcannon strikes per minute) the final objective of the operation was finished in no time on August 12th. With the Major Order completed, not only did (simulated) fear spread amongst Automaton networks (despite them having no emotions) but Charon Prime gained some minor titanium deposits from the hundreds of thousands of railgun slugs buried into the planet's crust.

Following the major order half of Helldiver Corps remained on Charon Prime to finish its liberation. The Democracy Space Station was also deployed to its orbit, and with activated Heavy Ordnance Distribution action, Charon Prime was fully liberated on August 12th.

Operation Ultrakill

On morning of August 21st, Automatons have launched a counteroffensive in response to recent losses in Nanos Sector. With all 3 attacks originating from nearby Charbal system, High Command has given the tactical advice for a Gambit Opportunity^[1]. Unfortunately, Helldivers could not decide on which planet to focus, spreading on all 4 planets, while simultaneously redeploying Democracy Space Station between Charon and Charbal.

Despite the heroic defense, planet once again fell to Automatons on morning of August 22nd.

Festival of Reckoning 2185

TLDR: Charon Prime finally saw action starting December 24th after the liberation of Julheim, with great strides being made towards its liberation thanks to the DSS' Heavy Orbital Bombardment. In the 12 hours it lasted, the planet would go from 0 to almost 50% before HOD ran out. However, the DSS' Orbital Blockade went up and the Helldivers continued the campaign undeterred.

Operation Iridium Rush

Now, having tasted peace once again, Charon's colonial settlers were determined to maintain this freedom for as long as they could. Having spent the grand majority of 2185 under the vicious socialist Automaton grip, they knew that further defeat was no longer an option.

Charon Prime would go on undisturbed during the first week of January 2186, ringing in the new year with optimistic peace. Elsewhere within the Automaton front, peace was certainly a mere illusion. At roughly 11:30 PM SEST on January 1st, the Automatons had revealed their rebuilt Incineration Corps, which then went on to invade both Gaellivare and Vog-Sojoth. The Helldivers would attempt to engage the defense of each planet, and primarily Gaellivare, before the issuing of Operation Free Space on the 2nd of January, which forced the Helldivers to trek to the Terminid-controlled Hive World Omicron for the extraction of E-711. This would leave both defenses undermanned, and as such, Gaellivare and Vog-Sojoth fell to the Automatons by January 3rd.

While such maneuvers by the Automatons were further to the east and seemingly didn't concern Charon, it would be an unwise decision for the settlers of the crimson planet to take their guard down. On the morning of January 7th, the Automaton Incineration Corps stationed upon Gaellivare ended their occupation of the planet and began to move to the west, until they had eventually reached Martale- Charon's northeastern FTL flank connection.

Now, it appeared the writing was on the wall for the crimson planet. Racing against time to prepare for an imminent invasion, Charon's colonial overseer would issue a high readiness position to the planet's colonial defenses as they scrambled to gather supplies and resources.

Sure enough, in the early afternoon of January 8th, Charon's atmosphere would be breached by the presence of at least 21 Automaton invasion fleets, led by the Incineration Corps. The attack would be deviously timed with a massive assault on the magma planet K further to the north in the Trigon Sector. Reading these attacks as an attempt by the Automatons to retake the magma planets, and with the Jet Brigade being spotted on Aurora Bay, High Command would issue Operation Iridium Rush, calling for the Helldivers to defend all 3 magma planets from the raging bot offensive.

With this news out, and the eventual invasion by the Jet Brigade of the second magma planet Mox, few would come to aid Charon's defense against the pyromaniac Incineration Corps as the bots swept through the planet at a rapid pace. With time running out and the Automatons continuing to move with pace, it seemed that the settlers of Charon could not uphold their fragile promise to themselves. Charon was doomed.

By the afternoon of the 9th, Charon Prime had fallen to the Automatons and their Incineration Corps, ending Charon's short-lived peace. Since this capture, the Incineration Corps has remained stationed on the planet for over 2 weeks, planning their next offensive with each passing second.

FTL Lines

• Bekvam III - Nanos Sector
• Charbal-VII
• Choepessa IV - Trigon Sector
• Martale

FTL Timeline

• February 8th, 2184: Charon Prime is connected by FTL to Charbal-VII and Martale.
• April 20th, 2184: New FTL line to Choepessa IV is established.
• February 25, 2185: New FTL line to Bekvam III is established.

Trivia

• Charon Prime shares the name of Pluto's largest moons.
• Charon is the greek mythological psychopomp, the ferryman who would give passage across the River Styx.