Part 95: Caliban System, Vega Sector, Mission 1 (Story)

Caliban System, Vega Sector (Mission 1)
Bridge, KIS Hvar'kann

Prince Thrakhath is not best pleased to learn of the Victory's escape from Ariel, and twirls his moustache-equivalent some more in response.



: Explain to me how, even with their jump point masked, the Terran carrier escaped our grasp.
: To my deepest regrets, my liege, they managed to find another jump point outside the nebula where our masking techniques cannot function.
: There's more.
: We learned, only after it was too late... The Heart of the Tiger was one of the carrier's protectors.
: The Emperor must not know of the success of this Terran incursion.
: My thoughts exactly, my liege. The Emperor, of course, must stay focused on the larger picture: our ultimate triumph.
: Which the Heart of the Tiger continues to jeopardise. I have waited many, many years, and now it is time... The trigger.
: An excellent plan, my liege.
: Prepare to send The Message.

I really didn't remember the Kilrathi being these ridiculously stereotyped villains in WC3, something of a backward step after a much more nuanced portrayal in WC2, its expansions, End Run and Fleet Action. I'm going to blame this one on Chris Roberts; note that the cats barely appear at all in WC1 (WC2 wasn't really his game), so it's pretty apparent his vision of the game didn't really allow for an enemy you could relate to or that had any depth. This portrayal also takes something away from the question the game's going to raise after we hit the next jump point, but more on that later. For now, back to the blue side of the line.

TCS Victory
Retreating from the Ariel System, the Victory jumps into Caliban. Pursuing Kilrathi light forces get rather overenthusiastic and outrun the heavier elements of their task group. Seeing an opportunity, Eisen lays an ambush inside the Caliban nebula.

(Interestingly, Caliban is closer to Kilrah than Ariel is. Maybe the front lines are slightly wonky, or else Eisen has a funny definition of "retreat" - perhaps because we just took the nearest jump point available when the one we were aiming for didn't work.)



Flight Deck

Cobra shares Rollins' shock at the Kilrathi's new ability to close jump points, and lashes out at the nearest (and most predictable) target.



: Why didn't you warn us that your kind could close jump points?
: Lieutenant, I do not believe our shared enemy closed the jump point.
: Hey, I wasn't hallucinating when it went off my screen.
: Our esteemed Captain has theorised that the enemy cloaked the jump point. The characteristics of the nebula undoubtedly made this possible, and explains why the Ariel system had been used for so long as a convoy passage.
: You know the Ariel system like the back of your paw. And you claim you had no clue of what was waiting for us?
: No more than you, Lieutenant.
: You're a liar.

Or at least, that's the conversation in the game script, and it's the one I remember. What I'm actually getting is only the last three lines of it, which is supposed to be what plays if you retreat from Ariel without playing mission 3 (by failing one of the first two). Not quite sure what's going on here, possibly all my saving and loading has confused the game. Either way, it's at this point Blair decides that it's probably a good time to step in before a fight breaks out. But do we play along with Cobra or back up Hobbes?

As soon as Blair heads up the steps from the flight deck into flight control, Rollins summons him to the bridge:

[on tannoy]: Colonel Blair, report to the bridge on the double.

Bridge

One wonders how "at the double" (an order which relates to a marching cadence of 180 steps a minute, pretty much a run) is supposed to apply to a journey which will be conducted entirely in a lift. Maybe he can jog on the spot or something. Anyway, once we get there, it turns out that Rollins has been opening too many e-mail attachments:



: What's going on?
: All our comm systems have been jammed, and guess who's behind it?
: Come on, Lieutenant! Don't tell me you can't do anything!
: I'm trying, sir. But it's like some kind of video-virus, or should I say, "worm"? Gah, this looks like a major debug.
[appearing on the comm screen]: I have read your Terran Bible, with its predictions that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is about to be fulfilled. We will tear your tongues out, we will scoop out your brains.
: That ain't all they'll do, if they ever get their paws on us.
: You will be prime examples to the other races in the galaxy, and clownish baboons for our amusement.
: For baboons, we sure have been gettin' our shots in, Senor Gato.
: Your race will suffer a thousand torments and more. Do not be emboldened by the presence of The Heart of the Tiger among you. Colonel Blair will be reduced to a pile of entrails. I will see to it personally that you pay for every noble Kilrathi who has died at your hands in combat. I leave you and your miserable comrades to contemplate your ignoble futures.
: I didn't know you and he had a history.
: Yeah, Thrakhath and I have gone a few rounds.
: He seems to have a special nickname for you.
: That's news to me, Captain. An "honour" I could do without.
: You ask me, the cats are running a little scared.
: Well, perhaps our incursion into Ariel had something to do with that. Hobbes!
[distractedly]: Kilrathi believe always that war is psychological. It is a contest of wills as much as weapons.
: Talkin' trash, is all I call it.
: It is the politics of superiority. Not, perhaps, one of my race's more admirable social constructs.
: "Social constructs". A pack of animals with "admirable social constructs".
: Captain, we have a Kilrathi force heading our way. I think they came through that last jump point, and it doesn't look like they're running scared, sir.
[to Blair]: I'll see you in the briefing room.

I don't feel like heading to the briefing room just now, though, so let's wander over to gunnery control instead and chat with Maniac.

Gunnery Control


: Ain't we the lucky ones? Just jump from one nebula to another. Seems we've just signed on to the whole galactic nebula tour package.
: Well, look on the bright side, Maniac.
: Which is?

Well, what is it? Are we going to try and taunt Maniac or sensibly point out that it's the same for both sides?

Barracks
Hmm, so, thinking about it, the whole flight wing was up on the bridge except for Flash. As to where he is - well, the answer's pretty typical (and a nice bit of characterisation) - he's having a nap (also, panicking):



: They can close the goddamn jump points? What's next?! I...I mean, they got us between their paws. It's just a question of time now.
: We don't know they can close the jump points. Theory has it that they just cloaked one.
: And to think... the only reason I'm here is 'cause I lost a goddamn bet.
: See where shootin' off your mouth gets you?

While we're down in the pilots' lounge, here's the killboard, which isn't missing any lines:



Whew, that was an awful lot of scenes. And with good reason, I'd say. To some extent, the Orsini through Ariel systems are something of a prologue; we're introducing the characters and establishing that the Confederation's mostly on the defensive against the Kilrathi, but there's not been any real direction to what either side is doing. But Thrakhath's ominous yet vague threats here in Caliban are the start of the real thing - plans to win the war have been set in motion (on both sides), and the story's pace and direction picks up from here on. For now, though, we've got to complete our escape from the Kilrathi, who, as I said earlier in this post, have got a bit overextended in their pursuit.

Mission Briefing
Briefing Room

So in case we'd missed it the first three times, when Thrakhath, Hobbes and Blair mention it, the idea is that the Kilrathi can't close jump points, but they can hide them from Confederation sensors - at least within the bounds of a nebula. Given how the WC Bible says that jump points operate, though, that's pretty much the same thing as closing a jump point. Jump points are primarily detectable by the fact that there's a small but measurable antigraviton flux between a jump point and a jump drive; the same effect on a much larger scale when a ship gets to within 500 m of a jump point is the necessary precursor to a jump. I suppose if the cats had some way of making the flux unmeasurable that would work, though since that's an internal phenomenon to the ship the jump drive is mounted on, I have no idea how the hell it would operate. Anyway. On with the briefing.



Damn it, Rollins, you're about four ranks junior to both Blair and Eisen. Stop slouching against the briefing table!

: Ah, Colonel. I hope you're not putting much stock in all that hot air Thrakhath decided to blow our way.
: No, sir.
: Good. Headquarters is pretty sure the Kilrathi has a special device in Ariel that enabled them to use nebular gases to throw a "curtain" over that jump point. Now, Confed thinks Ariel is the only system where they have this capability, since that's where they carried on so much of their convoy traffic.
: Well, that's good news. I don't feel like running into many more closed doors.
: Now, obviously the Prince's transmission was a good indication they're coming after us, hot and heavy. So, we're going to split from our escorts once we enter this nebula, and you're going to protect these two destroyers. Navigation has located a new jump point inside the nebula which we can use for our retreat once we've taken out enough of our pursuers. Give it your best, Colonel! Dismissed!

I really need to finish up the character bios, so let's do Thrakhath:
Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka

Callsign: Really ought to have one. Doesn't seem to. Unless it's "Bloodfang" and Confed has misinterpreted that as the name of his fighter. Based on the syllables appearing with translation in various other places, "Thrakhath" means something like "Mighty Blow".
Played by: John Rhys-Davies
Role: Heir to the Throne of Kilrah, Grand Admiral of the Kilrathi Fleets

The heir to the throne of Kilrah is probably the worst-done of the returning characters from WC2. Throughout that game and it's expansions Thrakhath is a fairly believable character who struggles to balance a successful prosecution of the Terran war and not getting killed by any of his ambitious nephews who want to supplant him as heir to the throne. In WC3 he's a comically stereotypical villain, hammed up by John Rhys-Davies (not that he had much choice, with the dialogue he was given) with a repetoire of dramatic pauses and expansive gestures. The only thing missing is a bad German or Russian accent (I suppose British comes a close second).

Plot-wise, Thrakhath is not merely the heir to the Kilrathi throne but also the only male descendent of the Imperial line; were Thrakhath and the Emperor to die, the throne would pass to one of his many cousins, and there are many competing claims and counterclaims as to who would have precedence. Conflict over the succession in this case is almost guaranteed, which is why the Emperor is very reluctant to allow Thrakhath to risk himself in combat. Despite that, he's theoretically the Kilrathi's best fighter pilot and one of their finest admirals, though he spends sufficiently long getting beaten by Blair and Tolwyn respectively in these fields that a certain amount of skepticism about those claims may be justified. He is the Crown Prince, after all, so a certain amount of exaggeration of his abilities might have happened I guess.

Choose your own Blair!
This is something of a monster update, so a lot of choices (besides, the video is likely to be delayed again, for similar reasons to last week, though this is a pretty short (and easy) mission, so it might not be that late). Anyway, the questions are: play along with Cobra or stick up for Hobbes, taunt Maniac or remind him that the conditions are the same for both sides, and fighter and wingman of course. Everyone except Flash for the wingman, and every fighter except the Excalibur.