Part 17: Rostov Detour, Mission C
Rostov Detour, Mission CPreviously in Rostov System: Rocks. Capital ships. There weren't any Star Wars jokes last time around, though.
Sprit and Angel is a pretty good combination.
I hear you've been flying the Raptor. She's a good ship, fast but a bit clumsy. It's an aggressive ship... if you're an aggressive pilot. I'd bet you could stand off a Gratha or two with that kind of ship. Oh well...you've probably got a better feel for the ship than me. Pay no mind to this ol' has-been. A Gratha or two... or four like in a previous mission...
I have heard that the Kilrathi are sending in their best pilots... It is my goal to encounter with one of their aces and shoot him down. But, I have not had the chance to engage one yet.
Is it just me, or has she become a lot friendlier with us? I wonder. But anyway, it's time for the thrilling conclusion of the two part saga about Maniac and his encounter with a human transports ship. In this instalment: the REAL story!
He was pursuing a Dralthi as it rushed toward one of our transports. He locked a heat-seeking missile on its exhaust and launched... but at the last minute, the Dralthi looped back towards him. The missile lost its lock on the enemy, and acquired the transport as its target. The transport's engines were severely damaged, and the ship was soon destroyed. 
Mission Time!
This is the third and final mission in Rostov. Losing in Rostov is a pretty bad idea, as I will explain later.
About an hour ago, Tactical got a fix on a large bogie jumping into the system. We don't know what she is, but she's big. Very big. Yes, people, believe it or not, this late in the game there are still kinds of enemy ships that we haven't yet seen!
Maverick, you and Iceman are going to go take a look. Find out what you can,but make sure you get back with a report. And watch your back... the Kilrathi wouldn't send her in alone. 
Understood, sir. Good, now let's go over the scenario...
You can proceed through Nav 1, avoiding the asteroid field along the way... or you can pick your way straight through the rocks. Tactical says neither route is significantly better, so it's your call.Interesting that in this mission, we get a choice which way to go...
Good. Let's get out there, then.
Ok, again this is kind of a strike mission (even though the game calls it a patrol!) and we need to find out what that big thing is. Also, we have been given a choice of two different routes to get to the main destination. We will be choosing the route that goes through the asteroids, for reasons that will be clear in the video. Nobody said anything specific about it (aside from that generic comment from Angel), but this mission also features a Kilrathi ace pilot: Khajja the Fang. His "canonical" appearance is really in the first Venice mission (the very next one) so we'll introduce him then (since I'm not counting these three missions, he'll still be alive there). Although due to nonsense of Kurasawa 2, I suppose most people meet him here instead (which the game does in a way cater for in Venice 1 mission).
So, the big thing was a Fralthi-class carrier, and here are the details.
Fralthi
Class: Cruiser
Length: 500 Meters
Mass: 20000 tonnes
Max Velocity: 180 kps
Cruise Velocity: 120 kps
Acceleration: Poor
Maximum Yaw: 2 dps
Maximum Pitch: 2 dps
Maximum Roll: 2 dps
Weapons: Turreted Lasers (6x)
Shields: Fore: 27 cm equivalent; Aft: 17 cm equivalent.
Armour: Front: 28 cm; Right: 26 cm; Left: 26 cm; Rear: 14 cm.
Fighter complement: 20
May look grand, but in reality (again) it's just like a little kitten (see what I did here?). Other than bigger armour, this is really no more dangerous than a transport. The small bit of defensive fire is harmless if you don't come too close, and it will soon be history. Despite that fighter complement note above, it will never actually launch them so you're safe on that front. Believe it or not, there is still one more kind of enemy to see!
Other than that, Khajja was not a big issue so let's hope it's the same next time when we fight him "for real". Due to Iceman scoring two kills, we missed a medal here.
Bonus
Like you saw in the video, the winning cutscene you get at the end of Rostov is the same one as in Kurasawa (but of course, if you ARE in Rostov you wouldn't have seen it there!), but unlike Kurasawa, here you can also get the losing version if you fail to win Rostov. The video below includes also a losing debriefing and the reassignment into a Scimitar squadron just so you can see what it's like to be on the receiving end of the Colonel's wrath.
Losing in Rostov, has quite a bit more of a consequence than losing anywhere else, as if you lose here, Tiger's Claw moves into the Hell's Kitchen system and you cannot win the game any more! In Hell's Kitchen you fly four missions that all revolve around protecting refugee transports and retreating and then that's it--the Kilrathi have won the Vega sector! Fortunately the Rostov missions are not particularly hard so this is unlikely to happen, but still... It is also possible to get to Hell's Kitchen from the Hubble's Star system, but you only get to that one if you keep losing everything basically from the start.
Next time on Wing Commander
Return back to normal, we continue the campaign where we left off before this short detour. The final four missions of Vega campaign, in Venice system. Of course, it's just one campaign and we have quite a few more to go after this one is done.