“	A desert planet prone to unpredictable and dangerous sand twisters.	„
	~ Official Description

Hydrobius is one of the five planets that reside within the Omega Sector. On June 9th, 2026, Hydrobius became the third planet to be absorbed into the Void, after Senge 23 and Seasse.

Topography and Astrography

Similar to Ustotu, Erata Prime and Erson Sands, Hydrobius is a desert planet riddled with dune seas and rough, sharp, rocky mountains and plateaus that occasionally break through them, in an ironic twist on its watery namesake. Hydrobius' arid climate doesn't lend itself to the weak, as the intense heat can easily cripple those without much stamina and will make weapons reliant on heatsinks much less effective than normal. Additionally, the planet's unstable tectonic plates make the desert prone to dangerous and often times unpredictable tremors that will hinder mobility, if not outright impair it entirely, for the duration of it.

Hydrobius is home to only one Mega City, its planetary capital City of Generatorsville. However, besides Generatorsville, the only other urban centers found on Hydrobius are the many scattered urban colonies across its surface, which are often targets of interest for the invading Illuminate that constantly harass this planet. The undeveloped wastes beyond these settlements are sparsely populated, only dotted by the occasional settler dwelling, frontier camp or S.E.A.F. facility. Additionally, having been part of the Illuminate Empire before its dissolution after the First Galactic War, Hydrobius' surface contains multiple ancient Squ'ith ruins scattered between the dunes. However, do not forget: Only a traitor is curious about alien artifacts!

The Hydrobius System consists of the planet Hydrobius itself, its yellow moon and at least 4 other astronomical bodies, among which are a gas giant, an unknown green planet, another unknown yellow lunar-like planet and red giant planet. The Hydrobius System doesn't really present any significant strategic value by itself. Given its FTL Lines, the Hydrobius System only really serves as a stepping stone before reaching the southernmost planets of Setia and Senge 23, which themselves also lack much significant strategic importance outside of Senge 23's Mega Cities.

History

Second Galactic War

Return of the Illuminate

Hydrobius was a peaceful colony in the southern galactic rim, having been colonized after the First Galactic War but without much other events to really highlight since, besides the founding of what would eventually become the planetary capital of Generatorsville. However, things weren't fated to remain in this state of calm stillness for much longer.

On December 23rd, 2184, the Illuminate launched an assault onto Hydrobius, hours before their prior raids at Osupsam and Baldrick Prime came to an end. Even though the Helldivers had orders to secure the Umlaut Sector, a contingent would divert to help repel the Illuminate raid, hoping to prevent the plunder of its resources and guarantee the safety of its citizens. However, due to a severe lack of manpower, the Helldivers could not stop the Illuminate from plunder the planet and subsequently escaping 12 hours later.

A month later, on January 23rd, 2185, the Illuminate would target Hydrobius once again. Much like the prior invasion, other operations elsewhere would funnel manpower away from the defense of Hydrobius, which allowed the Illuminate to yet again plunder and escape with impunity. A third raid occured on February 3rd, 2185, but now with the Illuminate seeking to funnel Dark Energy away from Hydrobius and into the Meridian Singularity for their nefarious purposes. The lack of manpower would, for a third time, allow the Illuminate aggressors to escape unbothered after once again pillaging the planet as they pleased.

A fourth invasion would be undertaken by the Illuminate on April 6th, 2185, also with the goal of plundering more Dark Energy. However, this time, the Helldivers would valiantly repel the Illuminate invaders, as they were now fighting with resolute conviction of stopping the then newly uncovered Illuminate plan of using the Meridian Singularity to destroy Super Earth. While this victory in itself was small, it was one of the many stepping stone on the path that ultimately culminated in the complete halting of the Meridian Singularity on April 29th, 2185.

Following the stopping of the Meridian Singularity and the subsequent Battle of Super Earth in May, Hydrobius was seemingly left well alone by the Illuminate. Or so it would have seemed.

Operation Deep Cleaning

On June 6th, the Ministry of Science discovered that Hydrobius, along with Mog, Bellatrix, and Haldus, had Illuminate hideouts. Thanks to wreckage analysis copiously salvaged from Super Earth's Mega Cities, the Ministry of Science identified that the enemy's cloaking mechanisms used Dark Fluid to bend light around their smaller spacecraft. And so they fled Super Earth's orbit, hiding in these locations, presumably built before the Invasion of Super Earth, as a backup plan in case that failed.

When they were discovered, the Illuminate quickly took control of the planets, establishing a 1.5% resistance on Hydrobius, being the lowest of all the 4 planets invaded. High Command declared a new Major Order, called Operation Deep Cleaning, and Hydrobius was one of its targets. Very few Helldivers mobilized to liberate this planet, however, thanks to the attrition of the Battle of Mog, resistance dropped to 1%.

When Mog was liberated, a small influx of Helldivers immediately traveled to the Hydrobius system, to begin their liberation efforts, thanks to the victory over Mog, the resistance dropped from the previous 1.5% to 0.5%. Sadly, the planet was taken by the Illuminate, being one of their stronghold on the southern part of the Galaxy.

Operation Calamari Damacy

After the cutoff of the planet from all Super Earth controlled planet on the 8th of July, the planet was quickly forgotten, as it was a planet of few-to-none strategic relevance, until High Command issued Operation Calamari Damacy, with Hydrobius being one of the 3 required planets for operational success, as control over it was needed for a safe perimeter to be established around Karlia, which was to be held due to its advantageous atmospheric conditions being necessary for DSS improvement works.

After the liberation of the Alaraph System on the early hours of September 27th, an allied FTL Line was opened into the Hydrobius System and the Helldivers to commenced liberation operations. Immediately, the Helldivers focused their efforts on liberating the planetary capital of Generatorsville. The fighting on Generatorsville would take the entirety of September 27th, with little progress being achieved throughout the rest of Hydrobius.

However, once the Helldivers successfully broke the Illuminate garrison in Generatorsville on the morning of September 28th. With their command structure disintegrated, progress would start being made at a rapid pace, as now the Helldiver Fleet could focus on liberating the rest of the scattered urban settlements throughout the planet.

However in the afternoon of the 28th, Terminid Sporefall would once more occur on Hellmire, putting Outpost Alpha in danger once more. Fortunately the Helldiver Corps were able to divide themselves equally between Hellmire and Hydrobius, allowing for the vital outpost to be held whilst also progressing the eventual defeat of the Illuminate garrison.

Hydrobius would finally be liberated on the 29th, cutting Karlia off from the rest of the Illuminate Empire, allowing the S.E.A.F. to launch a general ground offensive to retake the world. Truly our greatest heroes are also our greatest tactical geniuses.

Operation Bigger Apple

On November 6th, 2185, Illuminate would once again appear over the skies of Hydrobius. This attack came shortly after attack on Alaraph, confirming that Squids wish to reconnect their occupied space. The sudden triple-pronged attack on southern federation have stretched Helldivers thin, with most still on Terrek and recently liberated Fenmire.

Operation Void Attack

Hydrobius saw big push to liberate during this operation despite not being part of the major order. Mindless Masses stationed on the planet. By April 22nd, liberation effort went nowhere as Helldivers had to redirect to fight the Automatons.

During the Major Order to hold against Illuminate offensive in deep south of Federation Space, Helldivers would often attempt to counter-strike by deploying to Hydrobius to prevent attacks, but eventually those plans fell short as Squids targeted other planets. One Major push was done during the last day of the Major Order (April 22nd), but rapid re-deployment to Automaton frontline put those plans to permanent rest, keeping the planet in Illuminate hold.

Operation Heatwave

In early June of 2186, Appropriators have appeared on the planet, together with second detachment on nearby Senge 23, where two Exostorms were triggered at the same time. It is unknown if this was coincidence or counter to High Command's orders, as those storms appeared shortly after Major Order was given to halt Automatons push towards K and Fury. As the operations on western front continued, it was clear that not enough Helldivers could be spared to save Hydrobius.

On June 9th, 2186, at 09:36 SEST, spacetime around Hydrobius and Senge systems collapsed into The Void, connecting with the one in Seasse system proximity, doubling the size of the massive scar in reality. This marked the first expansion of The Void since March 2186.

Fate of the planet and system remains unknown.

FTL Lines

• Alaraph - Akira Sector (Established on June 17, 2185)
• Heze Bay - Hanzo Sector (Established on June 17, 2185)
• Karlia (Re-established on June 17, 2185)
• Setia (Established on June 17, 2185)

FTL Timeline

• February 8th, 2184: Hydrobius is connected by FTL to Karlia.
• June 13th, 2184: FTL line to Karlia is destroyed.
• June 17th, 2185: FTL line to Karlia is re-established, plus new lines to Alaraph, Heze Bay, Senge 23, and Setia.
• June 9th, 2186: FTL line to Senge 23 is destroyed due to Void.