Sandwalker arrived in the Kethlan system several hours after Elliott Parks' fleet had approached the planet Kethlan itself, and had dispatched drop teams to the surface to search for Jason Zackaria. It was believed to have arrived in response to the allies' attempts to apprehend the Pandorans' fleet admiral.

Though easily outgunning Griffin, Agent 57 and Colonel K, the dreadnought did not attack, and eventually revealed itself to be Cratos, acting in disguise. The UNF dreadnought had adopted the Imperial persona after it had been believed destroyed during Black Widow. For the next two years, the dreadnought had used its new identity for covert operations and had travelled around Imperial space, in a bid to find a way to end the war before the Pandoran fleet could lay waste to the whole of the Helios Confederation.