Woodward

"This is Captain Woodward, commander of this proud vessel, and we graciously accept your help!"

― Captain Woodward during Operation Sea Farer

Captain Woodward is the former captain of the stolen Pacific Federation battleship FNS Jerusalem (renamed CIFS Eminent Domain) and a member of the Cascadian Coast Guard aligned with the Cascadian Independence Force. He commanded the ship for most of the Cascadian Conflict up to its end.

Biography

"Keep up the barrage, if they don't stop fighting, I'll flatten the earth itself, this was always on them."

― Woodward during Mission ASKAR-59

Woodward, leading a Coast Guard remnant contingent, boarded and seized the Jerusalem off the Burning Coast on March 7, AC 432. He turned the ship's advanced arsenal against its former owners, sinking at least 15 Federation Navy ships prior to linking with the rest of the CIF. He took over the comms in a hurry upon contact, welcoming Sicario's Hitman Team's support, and received a direct vector for rendezvous with the CCS Court from the mercenary unit's AWACS. When the Federation launched Kiiyo cruise missiles into his ship, he readied their remaining AA guns in case the missiles got too close, but Hitman shot them all down. As a token of appreciation for their support, Woodward sent them items from the former captain's quarters, including a whiskey bottle.

He took the ship on various operations and engagements in the conflict, most notably the Magadan Invasion and the battle in the Pacific Ocean against the 1st Naval Battlegroup. Though Magadan was a simple favor from Independence Force HQ, Woodward demonstrated his ship's awesome power through flattening the Federation Ground Reserve CO's command post. He then sent in a forward picket fleet to box in the surviving Ground Reservists in while ordering continued bombardment. Unfortunately, thanks to Peacekeeping Squadron Steel and Air Reserve Division K-9, the advance group sank, and he was at a loss of words at losing fellow sailors when General Faust, the commander of the invasion, told him to compose himself and return his ship to IF HQ. The Captain told her to mind her business in Federation Core States soil.

The invasion would sputter and burn out, with his ship called again to provide overwatch for the CIF's evacuation. He wondered at their swift defeat in foreign soil, but was told indirectly by a crewman that the Federation had good pilots in its ranks outside of Peacekeepers to turn the tide. This time, they could not provide artillery support due to risk of friendly fire, and Woodward ordered anti-air on standby while he raised IF HQ and Faust. Eventually, he sent littoral combat ships to engage the Federation forces. The Captain was later forced to take provisional command after an argument between the high echelons led to Faust abandoning the evac for her own objectives.

Woodward, in a play to save as many lives as he could, had his crew contact Captain Flowers, commander of the Federation forces surrounding his, via inherited comm codes. He admitted the war favored his enemy and would one way or another push the rebels out, and pleaded for a momentary truce evacuation. Staggering in his words, he stated no more bloodshed was needed and the war would end in short time anyway. To his horror, Federation High Command rejected his request, and Flowers ordered the fighting continue. Worsening matters was Peacekeepers inbound to his fleet and flagship, and forked between losing the Marines onshore or the fleet to a futile evac, an angered Woodward chose the former; the fleet then picked up the last evacuated Marines.

The Federation aces performed an airstrike on the fleet that left the Eminent Domain in a badly damaged state, with crew casualties mounting on the battleship's every deck; by then, the entire invasion force had been eradicated. Enraged and feeling wronged by both allies and enemies - especially Faust - and perhaps even the people under his command leading to the grave outcome, Woodward cursed them while ordering a full retreat 030 on the defensive, his six taken by the aces; the invasion had ended in a total defeat and an officer on the loose, which the Federation would deal with over 48 hours later.

By the time he was in the Pacific, due to the ocean's geothermal interference, he was forced to engage at close range, and decided to cross the T with the first wave of Federation ships. He attempted to convince the second wave to power down their systems and leave Cascadia at once to be spared of further conflict, but when met with no response, decided to continue the operation. He directed his crew to attack the sister ship Dejanus directly to draw heat off Hitman and ordered a suicidal charge with a secondary broadside, its escorts launching a torpedo volley to cover it.

He was present during the Second Battle of Presidia, sinking the last of the Federation Navy in-country and bombarding enemy troop positions in the capital, also leaving Federation sailors in water to fend for themselves. He abandoned ship when it was sunk in the Presidian Disaster and, watching Hitman leader Monarch's final duel with the now-rogue Crimson 1 over the city's ruins, remarked the two aces were "setting the sky on fire."

Personality and traits

"The fortunes of this war change day by day. In this battle, fortune...favors the Federation, and you will force us off Magadan, I admit this and I ask for a momentary truce and cessation of hostilities for all active Cascadian Independence Force units to evacuate and leave. You have my word that we will return directly to Cascadia, no one else needs to die."
"Whether you retreat or fight today, the outcome is the same."
"This war is going to be over soon, there's no more need for this to go on."

― From one Captain to another in a hopeless bid for peace in war

Woodward is a resourceful commander during combat who is willing to take risks, even willing to give his and his crew's lives to win the Cascadian Conflict. He was willing to intervene in the furball over the Bering Strait like his crew, but was caught up in SAR duties. Unlike the typical Cascadian like Morgan Elizabeth or Crimson Team, he is more welcoming of mercenaries in general, as shown with his first contact with Sicario in Operation Sea Farer.

He also became infamous for his "madman" tactics throughout the war and relishing combat and heavy firepower, but behind all of it lies sympathy with both his and the Federation's own soldiers, as he wanted them to live instead of waste their lives for prolonging the war and, at times of need, negotiate for saving as many as he could, even in the most desperate and illogical of times; he noticeably doesn't want to risk friendly fire even if it gave an advantage. This trait may have diluted by the final battle, given his offered olive branch had been tossed away at both moments.

Trivia

Captain Woodward is named after Kickstarter backer Chad Woodward.