Part 27: Mission #23: 2 June 2654, Midgard System

Mission #23: 2 June 2654, Midgard System

Previously on Wing Commander: We picked up a company of marines on some kind of secret mission and brought them over the Kilrathi/Terran border. Now we are heading deep into the Kilrathi territory. Morale on the ship as at all-time low.

Norse mythology corner: Midgard (Miðgarðr) is one of the nine worlds united by the 'world tree' Yggdrasill and is the world where humans live. As the name says, it sits somewhere in the middle and is surrounded by an ocean inhabited by a large Ouroboros-like serpent.


Possibly some sense will be spoken by Spirit, as usual. I'm curious though how Hunter is coping with all of this.



Scuttlebutt says that the furbags have a Terran ship with them. I know the Kilrathi never take hostages... but maybe just this time... No. Who am I kidding? They don't take prisoners. Ever.






Well, keep the hope alive, but honestly, you are probably right...



I was listening to the newscast this morning. It appears that there was a Kilrathi attack on Epsilon Station.













Hunter was indeed very complimentary of your flying skills. I hope to fly with you again someday soon.

And indeed we shall be flying together again very soon.





He's been running around the last few days with his head in the clouds. Says he's going to take out the Kilrathi secret weapon that destroyed Goddard, all by himself.







Yeah, based on the conversation with him earlier, I think it's pretty clear that Maniac is NOT in good shape at all. But, interestingly, even Hunter seems a lot more subdued than usual.


Mission Time!

I honestly wonder why I even bother going to the bar any more. And it used to be fun!








Does he literally have to rub it in? Is just having to fly those junkers not enough?

And we have some real trouble. The Kilrathi captured a Confederation ship at Goddard... the Falstaff, a Drayman-class courier transport, which is carrying information that is vital in our operations against the Kilrathi. Weapons design specs, troop movements, tactical maps... that data could cripple our mission. The cats are familiar with some of our security measures... such as our rigging of databank couriers to blow when tampered with. Odds are good that they're taking it back to their command center so that their own techs can crack it without destroying the ship.



Now, we WILL be tipping our hand that we're actively following their fleet. That's why we'll use a very small task force. With luck, we'll be in and out before they realize they've been hit. Two wings of Blue Devils will be performing the entire mission. Here are the individual wing assignments







Afterwards, head for Nav 2. We've detected a Ralari cruiser there. Eliminate it.









We have to go against two capital ships here, plus any escort that we might run into. This again sounds kind of straightforward, but let's not forget we are flying the Scimitar here and that we will be to an extent a sitting duck for the faster Kilrathi fighters.

• Mission Video (Youtube)
  

Well, I guess we took a bit of damage there, didn't we. My general experience is that the missions that I get the most damaged in are the ones I fly with Scimitar and very often I end up losing one gun such as what happened here. On the other hand, none of the enemies escaped this time around, but I also felt that they were more aggressive than in previous missions. Which makes matters a bit difficult as that transport ship will jump out if you take too long with the fighter escort, so best to go for it immediately if you can.

Strangely, fighting those two Jalthi is actually the easiest part, more or less only because they are just as slow as we are, so as long as you don't get hit by their guns you'll be fine. Speaking of which, managing to keep a computer controlled wingman from getting destroyed by a Jalthi is often an impossible task, and here too, we end up going into the main part of the mission with an already heavily damaged Bossman, which is annoying. Also annoying is the fact that he wouldn't go home when ordered after whining through the entire mission that we should abort and go home!

That Ralari destroyer is in fact an optional objective, and mission will count as a win even if you don't manage to kill it, but considering the not especially strong fighter escort, I would say if you manage to get to that point, you'll probably manage to finish it off unless Bossman gets killed or something.

On the killboard we are nearly at two hundred... probably in next mission then.





Next time on Wing Commander
How would you like your pancakes... again!