Part 24: Mission #20: 21 May 2654, Goddard system
Mission #20: 21 May 2654, Goddard systemPreviously on Wing Commander: We are still trying to find out what is going on in Goddard system where all contact with a human settler colony has been lost after an apparent Kilrathi attack with some unknown weapon. The lives of quarter of a million colonists are at stake and we need to hurry there and provide any help they may need.
Nobody? Oh right, only a few minutes have passed since last mission ended and everybody has been ordered to immediately go to the briefing room! Let's just quickly check in with Shotglass before going on our way.
I heard you'll be flying again today.
Probably I should be on my way probably in that case.
I hear there's still no communication out of Goddard. But I'm hoping that the Kilrathi only wiped out the colony's comm satellite, not the colony. I've got a cousin on Goddard. Zach Siegler. He's a shuttle pilot. And his wife's a Chief Engineer. If you hear 'bout either one of them... Let me know, and I'll try an' get hold of them myself. I hope they are all right, although I am not sure any more what to expect at this point...
Mission Time!
Well then, no time to lose.
And the crews are doing emergency repairs on damaged fighters. Early telemetry indicates that no Kilrathi capital ships stayed behind in the Goddard system, but we've had reports of some smaller ships. Therefore, you Killer Bees will go search and destroy. 
Tactical shows bogies heading this way... fighters left behind to hunt for 'sports. Kappa wing is Maverick and Hunter. You'll start by going after those fighters. Once you've taken care of them, you'll swing out to clear our path into the colony. Here's the setup... 
At Nav 2, you'll find a Dorkir-class troop carrier. They may be trying to leave the system. Don't let them. When you've accomplished these objectives, return to the Claw. 
In summary, we need to defend Tiger's Claw from an incoming attack first and then clear the path towards the Goddard colony, destroying a few transport ships on the way. And all that in a Hornet... groan. And maybe we will reach Goddard in time to do whatever we can there.
So, remember how I said things are going to get a bit darker from now on? The game throws you a bit of a curve ball here really--there is no way to win the first set of missions, believe it or not. No matter how well you do in these two missions, the result is the same: no survivors among the colonists after the devastating Kilrathi attack with whatever that new weapon is. It would seem that the advantage we obtained by winning in Vega didn't even last a day! I'm going to leave it there for now as the next mission will provide a lot more info on what actually happened and what are we going to be doing about it.
As for the mission itself, while it had the usual increased number of engagements, it's not particularly difficult, certainly easier than the first. It's lucky that those two Grathas were focusing on Tiger's Claw otherwise it would have been hairy at that point.
Also I mentioned in the video that I wasn't sure why that first tanker exploded so quickly, but upon rewatching, I realise that it's again the "no enemies allowed near TC unless they came there to attack it" thing showing up--you can actually see TC faintly in the distance after the explosion and there is also the white dot on the radar that appears just then. This is kind of annoying as a matter of fact, but I guess it's all part of the limitations of the game engine...
As I've mentioned, this is it for flying with Hunter in a Hornet (try saying that 5 times fast!), in next mission we get a proper ship (Raptor) and a non-annoying wing
It is possible to earn a medal in this mission, but we missed it due to that tanker not being credited to us mainly.
The killboard:
Next time on Wing Commander
Into the tiger's den...