“	A blazing-hot desert planet, its rocky mesas are the sole interruptions to the endless sea of dunes.	„
	~ Official Description

Heze Bay is one of the five planets that reside within the Hanzo Sector. On March 17th, 2186, Heze Bay, along with Rirga Bay, became the first planets to feature the Illuminate's Mindless Masses.

Topography and Astrography

Similar to planets like Zagon Prime (pre-Gloom), Durgen, Phact Bay and Mastia, Heze Bay is a sandy, desertic planet entirely comprised of dune seas occasionally interrupted by tall, majestic ridges and mesas.

The arid wind will occasionally lift sand enough to cause a light haze during missions, while the Intense Heat radiating from Heze Bay's sun will make traversal on foot difficult due to the increased stamina drain, while also making all equipment reliant on cooling elements less effective, as these weapons will build up heat faster.

However, at night, the freezing cold of Heze Bay's deserts will reduce the fire rate of all weapons but will allow weapons that use heat sinks to both heat up slower and cool down faster. Despite its arid climate, the occasionaly hot spring and oasis can be found amidst the endless desert, with small shrubs and other scattered dead twigs and bushes littering the wasteland.

Besides the hostile climate, Heze Bay is swept by frequent sandstorms, which reduce mobility and greatly reduce visibility. Under these extreme conditions, long range engagements are almost impossible, as the storm makes it impossible to identify anything beyond a Helldiver's immediate vicinity. However, this visual obstruction also applies to the enemy, which may allow for stealth to flourish and allows for Helldivers to disengage more easily.

Heze Bay is home to two Mega Cities which will be listed up next by tier. Mega City tiers do not affect level generation and only serve to determine a city's health pool in the galactic war map. The two Mega Cities on Heze Bay are the Cities of Unanimity and Unison. Besides these cities, Heze Bay is home to numerous scattered urban settlements, which house a significant portion of its rural population, with the undeveloped wastelands also containing the occasional settler dwelling, frontiersmen camp or some S.E.A.F. base. Additionally, Heze Bay, having been part of the Illuminate Empire prior to its dissolution after the end of the First Galactic War, contains various Illuminate Ruins scattered throughout its surface and buried beneath the sand. However, do remember: Only a traitor is curious about alien artifacts!

Heze Bay lies at the southernmost reach of the Hanzo Sector, which sits at the heart of the Illuminate Cult's holdings in the Galactic South. It's FTL Lines into Rirga Bay and Hydrobius make it a crucial junction that connects the Southern Galactic Fringe with the larger Galactic South, making it a vital trading hub for the more remote colonies of Super Earth. The presence of its cities, and especially the presence of Illuminate Ruins, make Heze Bay critical.

History

Second Galactic War

Return of the Illuminate

Heze Bay was, much like all of its neighbors, a peaceful colony of Super Earth in the Galactic South that had been liberated from the grasp of the The Illuminate Empire after the First Galactic War. Like many others in the Southern Galactic Rim, Heze Bay's history was relatively uneventful, with its economy being robust enough to allow for the construction of urbanized settlements in order to house the growing populace. However, a resurgent foe was staring in envy, waiting for the moment to strike.

On December 25th, 2184, the Illuminate would send a raid onto Heze Bay. Since the Helldivers had been given complete operational freedom for the Festival of Reckoning, they would immediately dispatch a fleet towards the planet in hopes of repelling the raid and mitigating the damage. Unfortunately, the Illuminate would not be defeated and would instead withdraw once they had pillaged enough.

Civilian casualties laid in the thousands, both dead and missing. Homes laid in ruins and cities had been reduced to rubble. Yet the invaders' thirst appeared unquenchable as, on January 13th, 2185, they invaded Heze Bay for a second time. The Helldivers would only be able to divert a small contingent to aid with the situation, as they were occupied fighting the Terminids in the Farsight Sector. Predictably, the invaders would succeed at sacking Heze Bay a second time, as they would remain undefeated and left on their own accord 12 hours later.

On January 30th, 2185, the Illuminate dispatched a third invasion towards the planet. However, because of a buildup of the Automatons on Menkent, forces were pre-emptively diverted towards the Automaton front and thus, the third attack on Heze Bay was left unabated and the invaders would plunder as they pleased before leaving 12 hours after they made planetfall.

A fourth Illuminate invasion would hit Heze Bay on February 5th, 2185 and, much like the three attacks prior, it would be left unattended due to ongoing events elsewhere in the galaxy and, expectedly, succeeded in allowing the Illuminate to plunder the planet once more. A fifth attack hit Heze Bay on February 19th, and just like the four prior, it was left uncontested and the Illuminate came and went. A sixth attack, also uncontested, would hit Heze Bay on April 13th.

Operation Squid Eviction

The planet-hopping campaign of the Illuminate had wrecked havoc throughout the Galactic South. Colonies laid in ruins and millions of citizens had lost their lives. Things would not improve much in the months after since, by May 2185, the Illuminate launched their hideous attack upon the heart of the Federation itself. By the time The Great Host was forced to withdraw from Super Earth on May 30th, the victory over the alien terrorists was overshadowed by the smoke of the many planets the Illuminate had razed in their march towards the homeworld of humanity.

In the wake of the Battle of Super Earth, the Super Earth Satellite Observation Network was hit by Illuminate interference as the defeated xenophobes fled to their scattered redoubts in the Southern Galactic Rim, possibly constructed during their initial campaigns. One of the many planets to be abducted by the squids would be Heze Bay. When the Satellite Observation Network regained operability on June 17th, 2185, Heze Bay had been completely taken over by the Illuminate, as had been many other planets in the Hanzo Sector.

The Helldivers were given orders to liberate Alairt III and Alamak VII in order to interdict this horrendous attack at once. However, the entrenched Illuminate would repel the assault, leaving Alairt III unliberated and, by extension, cutting Heze Bay away from Freedom's light.

Operation Calamari Damacy

Heze Bay remained under firm Illuminate control for four months, during which they expanded their territories throughout the Southern Galactic Rim. It wouldn't be until the liberation of Hydrobius and Karlia on September 29th during Operation Calamari Damacy that Heze Bay would be within Liberty's reach once again. However, much like with its first bouts against the Illuminate aggressors, Heze Bay wouldn't see much activity, as campaigns elsewhere kept manpower from being deployed onto Heze Bay.

Operation Archaeological Anomaly

Heze Bay remained almost completely untouched by Liberty's light for almost a year. Stuck in the worst of purgatories, so close to the frontlines against the Illuminate Cult yet always deprived from even the slightest of Helldiver deployments while its neighbors saw the glorious deployment of Freedom's very angels.

However, Heze Bay was not fated to remain chained much longer. And on March 17th, 2186, its return to Freedom would come as quickly as it would come unexpectedly. Strange Illuminate signatures had been picked up from Seasse, a swamp planet 2 sectors away in the Omega Sector. Highly threatening energy readings and gravitational anomalies eerily similar to those detected back when the Meridian Singularity was being harnessed by the malevolent autocrats were being picked up, with anomalous and illegal weather formations also being detected by experts from the Ministry of Science, who also theorized a direct link between both events.

With intelligence reliably assessing that the Illuminate were performing some sort of mysterious, undemocratic activity of an unknown but undoubtedly perverse nature on Seasse, the Helldivers would immediately receive orders from High Command to interdict the hideous aliens and investigating their activities on Seasse immediately, so as to determine their true nature. However, there was a problem: Seasse was unreachable to the S.E.A.F..

The quickest route towards Seasse was through planet Rirga Bay, which would also be designated as a planet to be held during the Major Order. However, Rirga Bay was also unreachable to the S.E.A.F., and with Senge 23, the only other planet with an FTL Line into Seasse, also unable to be reached by the S.E.A.F., only one option remained: Heze Bay.

Heze Bay was originally disconnected from Rirga Bay. However, the Illuminate would open an FTL Line from it into Rirga Bay during their offensive towards the Southern Galactic Fringe on October 7th, 2185. Through these supply lines, the Illuminate eventually conquered the rest of the Rigel Sector and now, seeing as how the Helldivers were poised to interfere in their maleficent dealings on Seasse, they used the supply line they had created to try and buy their nefarious rituals time.

They deployed the Mindless Masses on Heze Bay and Rirga Bay, massive hordes of their Voteless slaves with as little Overseer herders as possible, in hopes of delaying the Helldivers. However, all they accomplished would be to make Heze Bay's liberation a breeze.

Within hours of the orders being issued, around 80,000 Super Destroyers would be warping onto Heze Bay's orbit, the Democracy Space Station joining in with the Eagle Storm already in effect. The Helldivers breezed through the hordes of Voteless effortlessly, while the S.E.A.F. immediately set upon liberating the City of Unanimity in order to both wipe out the Illuminate Stronghold there as well as to establish a needed beachhead from where to commence planetary operations. By March 18th, at 01:30 SEST, Unanimity would be liberated, wiping out 34% of the enemy's occupying forces and, alongside the efforts undertaken by Helldivers in the many scattered urban settlements throughout the planet, liberating almost half the planet and making great progress towards Heze Bay's liberation.

The Illuminate withdrew towards their last remaining stronghold in the city of Unison, the Helldivers and S.E.A.F. Infantry giving immediate chase as the Helldivers continued purging occupied colonies off any and all Illuminate occupiers they could find. Unison would put up a good fight, allowing the Helldivers to methodically cull the rest of the Illuminate forces that remained throughout the planet. By 16:30, 69% of the entire planet's enemy forces had been decimated when the Illuminate stronghold at Unison, which accounted for the remaining 33% of the remaining enemy force, was successfully liberated by the S.E.A.F.. Heze Bay would finally be free and the Helldivers now had a clear path towards Rirga Bay and Seasse after it.

Operation Void Attack

Finally out of the tentacles of oppression, the colonists of Heze Bay rejoiced at their newfound freedom. The enemies' 9-month-long occupation finally came to a close, revealing the extent of the damage they had caused to its urban colonies and its sprawling cities alike. Many colonists were likely kidnapped and converted into Voteless combatants from Heze Bay itself, an unavoidable casualty of the Illuminate occupation. Despite the unsanctioned pillaging of this once free world, Super Earth and its hard-working colonists never wavered in rebuilding what was damaged, their faith in Liberty never waning.

The War largely passed Heze Bay by for the next month, allowing its colonists to rebuild and restore planetary infrastructure. The Illuminate attempted multiple incursions upon its southern flank, Rirga Bay, but were repelled for the time being. The new metaphysical threat of The Void certainly kept The Federation and Heze Bay on edge, particularly as the threat was not distant from reaching the planet, or from being subject to specialized units pouring out from it. Peace was achieved, but in a tense, fragile state.

On April 15th at 09:27 SEST, the Illuminate seemingly began another offensive in earnest. Once again, their Mindless Masses outpouring from The Voided planet Seasse targeted Rirga Bay in a larger force than their prior incursions. With the Helldivers under no Major Orders at the time, the plurality of the Corps began deployment to the planet's acidic surface to halt the advance. Projections appeared positive for a successful defense, particularly after the arrival of the DSS and its Ordnance Distribution function, speeding up progress on the ground.

As fate would have it, tyranny's architects had further intentions of expansionism. The Squ'ith began a large-scale attack upon Heze Bay at 23:30 SEST, led by their Appropriators. Now faced with multiple incursions, High Command issued new Orders to the Helldivers. The Ministry of Intelligence issued dire warnings, indicating that the Illuminate were launching mass abductions surpassing their usual efforts for some unknown purpose. To halt their kidnapping and to protect the Federation's workforce productivity, High Command tasked Helldivers with defending at least 5 Illuminate attacks until midnight of April 20th.

Initially, defense progress was slow on Heze Bay as the majority of the Corps remained stationed on Rirga Bay. The defense of Rirga was officially successful by 14:15 SEST on April 16th, allowing the Helldivers to shift their defensive stand to the sandy peaks of Heze Bay. The Helldivers deployed in mass to the large city of Unanimity, knowing that successfully defending the city would cut the initial gains made by the enemy and wipe out much of the Appropriators' invasion fleet. As such, with a much larger presence of Helldivers active on the planet, the Squ'ith lost much of their initial momentum, and projections began to look favorably upon the Corps. Eventually, by roughly 04:46 SEST on April 17th, Unanimity was defended, effectively granting the Helldivers an instant 41.38% boost in their defense progress. This massive boon, coupled with their defense of roughly 60% of the planet's surface elsewhere, shattered the Illuminate offensive on the planet and granted the S.E.A.F. an immediate, successful defense of Heze Bay. Heze Bay's citizens rejoiced as the Helldivers showed their military might once more.

May 2186

Heze Bay would come under direct Appropriator assault on May 12th, 2186. With an defense arleady ongoing on Hort, and following Major Order targetting Meissa, Heze Bay was left with insufficient amount of Helldivers, and declared lost on afternoon of May 14th.

FTL Lines

• Alairt III (Re-established on June 17, 2185)
• Hydrobius - Omega Sector (Established on June 17, 2185)
• Rirga Bay - Rigel Sector (Established October 7th, 2185)

FTL Timeline

• February 8th, 2184: Heze Bay is connected by FTL to Alairt III.
• June 13th, 2184: FTL line to Alairt III is destroyed.
• June 17th, 2185: FTL line to Alairt III is re-established, plus a new line to Hydrobius.
• October 7th, 2185: Heze Bay is connected by FTL to Rirga Bay.