Part 101: Torgo System, Epsilon Sector, Mission 1 (Story)

Torgo System, Epsilon Sector (Mission 1)



Returning to Confederation space, the Victory joins up with Admiral Tolwyn, who unveils the Confederation's latest secret weapon, exhibiting as he does a rather dodgy grasp of physics and a much better feel for the actual war situation than we've had to date.

Flight Deck, TCS Victory

Tolwyn's shuttle lands on the Victory and he greets the crew with his characteristic warmth.



[gesturing towards a toolbox left open on the flight deck]: Rollins!
[pushing it away]: When did I become the maid around here?
: An honour and a privilege having you aboard, Admiral.
: A pleasure, Captain, thank you. [looking over the pilots] Ah! Well, looks like a good bunch. Well... the legendary Colonel. It's good to see you again.
: Thank you, Admiral.

Now, at this point, Blair can either score points with the Admiral or the crew. Which is it to be?

Gunnery Control

Flint knows perhaps slightly more about Blair than might reasonably be excused by reading up on the new CO. Maybe this is widely known, I suppose Blair is probably somewhat famous, but that's not what his reaction suggests.



: Must seem like old-home week to you. First the Kilrathi prince, and now Admiral Tolwyn. Who'll be next?
: [Says nothing and slumps forwards]
: Sorry. I know who you're thinking about...
: Do you? You must be a mind reader.
: No, I just know more about your history than you might be aware of. She's a Colonel in Covert Ops, right?
: How did you become such a student of history?
: That was my weapon, growing up. Being the girl, I had to have something to get an edge. And one thing I know about my history is that you and the Admiral have crossed paths more than a few times.

It's true, of course...then again, he did also promote Blair to Colonel, and we got through over a year, including several absolutely huge battles (Vukar Tag and Sirius both had at least four carriers on each side) as his CAG on the Concordia. Still, a productive working relationship doesn't exactly mean we have to like the man. So, which is it - unity of command and Tolwyn's just doing his job or...well, maybe I should just tell you what the game calls the other option, which is "She can see Tolwyn's a jerk"

Rec Room, TCS Victory

Just the killboard, back on track with the numbers again.


Mission Briefing
Briefing Room

The Victory is in Torgo to redezvous with Confed's latest shiny toy - and this one's rather larger than the Excalibur.



: As you may or may not know, we are currently en route to the Torgo system, where we will rendezvous with destiny. Gentlemen... I give you the Confederation's finest achievement - the Behemoth. After a decade of secret research and development, our greatest minds have created the device that will spell doom for the Kilrathi. Behemoth is a series of linked, superconducting energy amplification conduits, focusing an output of five hundred million gigawatts into one lancing point. Any target at the end of that point is destroyed.
: Even a planet... [Ilanin: ahahaha no. See later]
: Yes, Captain. Even a planet. We would have liked another year or two for testing and development but, unfortunately, circumstances have forced me to deploy the weapon now.
: And might I ask why, Admiral?
: Well, you should know the answer to that question more than anyone else, Colonel. The classified and bitter truth is that Confed has been losing the war this past year. If the current trend continues, the Kilrathi will be walking on the Earth in six months, maybe less. So, the Behemoth must be pressed into service earlier than anticipated. Because of this accelerated deployment, the ship's defensive systems are - how can I put this? - somewhat incomplete. There are a few, uh, "soft spots" located here, and here, where the shields are thin. There's been no time to complete keel mounts or laser turrets. I expect you to be especially aware of these areas, Colonel. It will be your job to protect and defend this ship. It should be looked upon as the Confederation's last-ditch effort to win the war outright.
[recieving a comm]: Yes, Yes, thank you, I understand. Thank you. All right. The download is complete. We have arrived at Torgo, gentlemen, where I had hoped for a nice smooth rendezvous with the Behemoth, but as is their wont, the Kilrathi have spoiled the party. Colonel, this is undoubtedly the most important mission you've ever flown in your life. You must defend the Behemoth at all costs. I want a magnum launch - all fighters up! Are we clear?
: Yes, sir.

Ahem. I have two things to say about this conversation. The first is the physics point. Five hundred million gigawatts, or 5x10^17 Watts, or I suppose half an Exawatt if you want, is a pretty decent output for a weapon that can be fired regularly - it's about two and a half times the yield of the Tsar Bomba, the biggest thermonuclear weapon ever devised, being supplied every second. What it isn't, though, is a plausible output for a planet killer. If you want to destroy a planet (rather than simply rendering it uninhabitable, which is much easier - as the Kilrathi have already shown) then you've got to supply, at minimum, an amount of energy equivalent to the planet's gravitational binding energy. That is, enough energy to physically take all the matter that makes up the planet and pull it apart against the force of gravity holding it together. For Earth, this is around 2x10^32 Joules, or, in other words, the Behemoth would have to fire at the Earth nonstop for somewhere in the region of 12 and a half million years in order to destroy it. OK, so Tolwyn might have a planet in mind that's smaller than Earth to fire it at - but the binding energy of Mercury is still about 10^30 Joules, and there's not going to be much of military relevance smaller than that.

Fine. Sci-fi writers everywhere have been getting this shit wrong for as long as there have been sci-fi writers, and nobody really cares. Perhaps the bigger objection here is the way Confed's sudden leap to the deployment of geocidal weapons is dealt with. Tolwyn's quiet, threatening certainty is fantastic of course (Malcolm McDowell does a great job as the Admiral, to the point where, in my head, he delivers all of Tolwyn's lines in WC2 as well), but Eisen and Blair...well, I guess you can say that Jason Bernard and Mark Hamill manage to look worried. It's a big moment in a game which, if it has an overriding theme, is about how war changes you - and the brutality of Confed's final war plans is a fine exemplar of that, but the presentation is very understated - too much so, in my opinion.

Choose your own Blair!
This is a scramble, so no fighter choice - we're in the Arrow, and we have either pre-set or random wingmen, I can't remember which. If it's preset, it'll be Flint again, because Blair has good taste in his automatic choices. But there's the questions of whether to score points with the Admiral or play up to the crew, and whether to defend Tolwyn to Flint or agree that he and Tolwyn don't get on.