Part 28: Mission #24: 2 June 2654, Midgard System

Mission #24: 2 June 2654, Midgard System

Previously on Wing Commander: Had to destroy one of our ships to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Spirit told us about her fiancé and how it is currently unknown if he survived the attack on Epsilon station where he was stationed. Things are still looking pretty grim and we are hoping for a breakthrough soon.


Not sure I want to talk to Maniac. Bossman might put some sense into him though.


Oh, why is that?

I don't really have anything much to celebrate, y'see. I was holdin' onto this faint hope that my cousin Zach had made it... that somehow he was alive, hiding out on that Drayman. I knew it wasn't true, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was making me crazy, but now I know the truth.


Oh, drat!








What the...



But I know I'm being saved for something. Something wonderful. Everyone here teases me because I'm such a hot pilot, and I'm not afraid to say it. But they'll see. They'll all see...




I don't know what to say.


So that old story again? It's been built up so much that at this stage I will be disappointed if we don't run into it at some point!





...with no Kilrathi ships in the area, only our own. That's why I think the Gwenhyvar is real... and she's out there, somewhere.




Let's get out of here, seriously.



Mission Time!





Yesterday's mission, though crucial, tipped off the Kilrathi to our presence. They don't know the size of our fleet, and they can't be sure that we're actually following them. Let's try to keep it that way.





They're flying her back to the Claw for our techs and intel boys. There's a lot of Kilrathi tactical data in that ship, pilots.













Nav 2 is your real destination. Make sure there's no danger for our Dralthi fighter who will meet you there. Escort him home. One thing. Tactical recommends that Nav 1 should be avoided for the trip home. You are to return by way of Nav 3 and use the asteroids for cover.



Last time we had to destroy one of our own ships, and now we have to protect one of Kilrathi fighters, that's pretty funny. This mission, however, isn't very funny, and as it turns out, can be a source of annoyance for one particular reason.

• Mission Video (Youtube)
  

So we did everything more or less as we were told in the briefing; the coveted Dralthi was certainly brought in safely--why then the losing music during the debriefing? Well, you didn't see it in the video, but this mission is in a way Kurasawa 2's nicer brother. The key is that comment about not coming back via Nav 1. It turns out, this mission has a semi-secret winning condition and in order to win, you have to return to Nav 1 after hitting at least one other Nav point. Once you return there what you find is two Fralthi carriers being escorted by four Jalthi! In addition to saving the Dralthi and destroying two capital ships you saw in the video, you also need to kill these two additional Fralthi and ONLY THEN will this mission be considered won and you will hear the winning music at debriefing.

And if we were flying a Raptor or a Rapier this would be perhaps challenging, but probably doable; however we are flying a Scimitar and with Bossman who is hardly the world's most capable wingman. In addition, if you don't want to endanger the Dralthi the only way to do this is to get to Nav 1 first, then Nav 3 and then back to Nav 1. In case you weren't counting, that makes for 13 enemies that you have to fight before you even get to this! For us, this is not a huge deal as they are mostly Dralthis, but Bossman will definitely manage to get damaged enough that keeping him alive in the midst of 4 Jalthi and 2 Fralthi is a formidable task. And don't even think of doing it alone; let me remind you, you are flying a Scimitar! You need a wingman to distract at least some of the enemy. A lone Scimitar has no chance against four Jalthi. If you try to do it defensively by going in, landing a few hits, getting out and repeating this, you will on the other hand end up running out of fuel.

No matter how you look at it, and having tried it a few times, I am convinced that this part of the mission is only theoretically possible, or you need a lot of luck; hence not showing it in the video. However, there is a silver lining: winning points for the mission set are calculated separately from winning points for an individual mission and in a bit of a reversal from Kurasawa, you DO NOT need to do this extra bit to win the Midgard system. You also do not get any reward if you do manage the extra--it's not even mentioned in the briefing, nor do you earn a medal!

Enough of that; the rest of the mission is not majorly hard but it does have a lot of enemies and it is definitely recommended to clear the way home first before going to get the Dralthi as it's hardly the sturdiest of ships--you've seen how many we slaughtered in this mission alone. Even if you don't go for the extra, Bossman's health is again a problem but he will probably survive, albeit heavily damaged. Also, in yet another annoyance, you have a chance of possibly missing that Fralthi at Nav 3 as it only arrives after a couple of minutes, so if you are too quick on your autopilot key you might jump out before it arrives!

Next time we are back again in Raptor (and have a new wingman--Spirit), and I wish I can say we will never have to fly Scimitar again, but unfortunately, I would be lying if I said that... groan.

At least a big boost to our kill score due to quite a few enemies in this mission:






Next time on Wing Commander
They're buzzing like flies!