Part 14: Mission #14: 14 May 2654, Kurasawa system

Mission #14: 14 May 2654, Kurasawa system

Previously on Wing Commander: With a lot of luck, we brought a captured Ralari-class destroyer back to the Tiger's Claw. Let's hope we never ever have to do something like that again!


Oh groan, it's Hunter again...



Mostly reruns, last I saw. I mean, can't we ever get any new shows? What happened to the Confederate News Network? It's getting harder to know what's going on before everyone else does around here.


Oh, man...


MAJOR? MAJOR. MAJOR!?

Looks like we've got the hairballs on the run. But I won't sleep well until they're out of the sector... Still, I'd like to get my hands on one of them... face to face... to answer for what they did to my family on Vega VII!

I'm a little scared of this guy...




Hey, guess what! Other than Maniac (who we won't be flying with... ever!), we've now flown with everybody except Iceman and Hunter--and Iceman will be our partner during the Rostov detour. So guess who that leaves to be our wingman in the final, most important, series of Vega campaign? Yep. Exactly. Bet you didn't see that one coming.

Let me give you a few notes on my style... before we launch. Right off, I'm not as crazy as some people say. I've just got me own ways. Long as we take a crack at any fuzzballs we see, I'll be 'appy. Also, it never 'urts to check out ev'ry angle. Even if that means going against the plan. After all, you just might find something you'd miss otherwise.

Well, the team player attitude is clearly alive and well with Hunter, that's good to know.



Mission Time!
Oh well, at least we still have one more mission with Bossman (plus Rostov with Iceman) before we have to face flying with Hunter...



All right people... here's what we've got.



She's just come from a scrap, and she's in rough shape. Your mission will be to rendezvous with her, and guard her against further attack.


Wait, what?








That's more like it!

Thank you, sir!

Here's the flight plan. Computer, display Chi.



The destroyer has reported a minefield between Nav 1 and the Claw. Once you've arrived at the rendezvous point,you'll escort the destroyer back here. You should return via Nav 2, and avoid the minefield entirely. Be on guard. The Kilrathi would love to take out an Exeter-class ship.




On the surface this doesn't sound very different than previous mission, yet another escort-the-destroyer thing. But in reality it's considerably easier, as will be seen. Also that minefield... well, see for yourself in the video!

• Mission Video (Youtube)
  

Not a whole lot to be said about this mission, but it does come as a welcome relief after the mess from last time. Enemies are way less aggressive (not to mention weaker) that in previous mission, so the Formidable is never in any real danger.

Also, as we saw in the video, the minefield... simply doesn't exist! I don't actually know if this is a bug in the game or if it is supposed to represent how information can be unreliable during wartime, or something like that.

I do like the cutscene at the end where that one guy with the spear keeps poking at the Kilrathi. If you lose Kurasawa you go straight to Rostov and there is no losing version of cutscene in that case.

No medals are possible in this mission, but our score has cracked the three digits:





Next time on Wing Commander
Since we won Kurasawa, we are heading straight to Venice for the final four missions in this game. However, before we do that, I will make an 'unofficial' detour to Rostov to show those missions (as usual, there's 3 of them) as they are a little unique due to the configuration of space (i.e. Rostov system is one big asteroid field more or less), but I won't be counting those in the kill/medal score. Once we're done with that, we'll continue where we left off and finish off the Vega campaign with our friend Hunter flying at our wing! Fun fun fun!