Part 34: Mission #30: 20 June 2654, Valgard System

Mission #30: 20 June 2654, Valgard System

Previously on Wing Commander: Starbase goes boom! Now we wait and see who/what will turn up here.

Norse mythology corner: Actually, not this time... Valgard is just a Scandinavian name; however this is probably a reference to a character from Poul Anderson's "Broken Sword" which does deal with Norse mythology and Vikings, so the overall naming theme isn't really broken.



We are going to be flying the next couple of missions with Iceman.





Have you looked around? Everyone's more alert... walking tall, looking good. I think we were all half-dead until that station went up in flames.







It's coming down to the wire. The enemy fleet is going to head straight to us now, right into our trap. I want that ship with the secret weapon, the one that destroyed Goddard.










Oh, gee... I really couldn't even begin to guess who will it be!

That'll be something to have on your permanent record. 'So-and-so of Tiger's Claw is credited with the kill of the Kilrathi ship that destroyed Goddard Colony.'






Well, Iceman is being Iceman, but other than that, it does seem that morale has improved.


Mission Time!

Let's go into the briefing room, Colonel Halcyon has some interesting news this time.














Other than the fact that we'll be (hopefully) returning to Vega sector once we are done here, this is actually unrelated to our present mission. But at least it's good to know that the Kilrathi will not be retaking Vega any time soon. So, on to the more relevant news...




Sivar is actually the Kilrathi god of war, and you'd do well to remember it because this is far from the last time that we'll hear that name.

This may be the same ship that was sighted by our pilots, not far from our own position. That ship will be our main target, pilots. We're going to lure her to this location... and destroy her completely, AND the Kilrathi secret weapon. But now we need to concentrate on today's mission.



This means that we're probably going to intercept some incoming ships. Now, a lot of them will be short on fuel, or in desperate need of repairs. But we can't bet that any ship coming in will be an easy kill.





They can send out an emergency beacon to the Sivar... while they stay on the horn with you, pretending to negotiate.




True, in fact we haven't flown a Rapier since the end of Vega campaign!













...a few times. If you see any cats, attack and destroy. When you're sure the area is clear, run out to Nav One. This area is one of the closest jump points... and we can expect some incoming Kilrathi to pop up here. Shoot over to Nav 2 next, clear it of bogies, and head for Nav 3. Once you've eliminated any enemy forces there, return to the Claw.









So the idea is basically that we have positioned ourselves where the star base used to be and will be patrolling the nearby area to catch any enemies coming to refuel/replenish their supplies. Their destruction is also supposed to serve an additional purpose, which is to contain the information about our presence in the system as much as possible. In essence, this is another one of 'search and destroy' mission, which is exactly what the Rapier is intended for--so no Scimitars this time, or anything like that.

That briefing was unusually wordy, so let's see how we do with the mission.

• Mission Video (Youtube)
  

Well, after all the stuff we've had to deal with recently, it's nice to have a relaxing and fun mission for once. There is nothing much to be said about the fights themselves, although I like how they appear to have toned down the aggressiveness of the enemies in an effort to present them as being low on resources/fuel as they would be since they are coming to where a fuel/supply depot used to be.

For a bit of fun, try counting how many different euphemisms for 'destroy' Maverick uses during the debriefing here!

And finally, as I've mentioned in the video, the fact that we are flying these few missions with Iceman is a very very good thing, even if he is stealing all our capital ship kills! You may have noticed that didn't ask for assistance even once, unlike most of the other wingpeople.

Anyway, we'll be continuing in a similar vein next time, but in the meantime here is the kill board:





Next time on Wing Commander
A Jerry Bruckheimer production of a Michael Bay movie: 4 Fast 4 Furious!