The Tycho Colony incident occurred on 18 November 2115 near the Tycho Colony, an Altered internment camp established on Luna in 2092. In violation of Global Defense Force regulations and Global Parliament mandates, Fleet Adm. James Thomson deployed a covert force of GDF Marines to sabotage and destroy the colony. His executive officer, Capt. Akira Tenaka, leaked the admiral's plan to Marcus Duveaux, editor in chief of the BosYork Sun newspaper, who quietly arranged for a fleet of cargo ships to evacuate the colony and a contingent of aerostar fighters from the 4th Space Superiority Wing, 4th Interceptor Squadron "Tsunamis" to defend the cargo ships.

Thomson reacted to the evacuation attempt by deploying fighters from the 13th Space Superiority Wing, 13th Striker Squadron "Drakes," and ordered the transports carrying Altered evacuees to stand down. When the cargo ships refused to heave to, the Drake fighters opened fire on the transports. They evacuated to Europa while the Tsunamis ran interference. Marcus Duveaux prevented Thomson's forces from pursuing the evacuees by abruptly shutting down his ship's Trans-D drive. The ensuing shockwave destroyed the remaining Drakes and most of the surviving Tsunamis.

Earth and Luna
Originally photographed by NASA's Galileo probe in 1990

Shortly after the transports had evacuated, Tenaka apprehended Thomson on multiple charges of murder, attempted murder, and disobeying a direct order. The Altered established a new colony beneath Europa's surface and moved the rest of their population to their new home in 2116. Tenaka later succeeded Thomson as fleed admiral of the GDF. Thomson, however, escaped from Earth during court-martial proceedings and is presumed to be still at large.