My Brother, My Enemy
| The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe. |
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MISSION 07
ACT 1, MISSION 07
Fighter squadron: 170th Fighting Navajas
Description: On her last mission with the Navajas, Laporte defends a UEF cruiser from a raiding GTVA squadron.
Background
Admiral Steele's blitz of Earth's orbital installations has left a lasting impact on the UEF. Much of the Federation Navy's logistical infrastructure has been gutted, leaving it with an operational window of 6-12 months before being affected by fuel and ammunition shortages. As a result, Admiral Byrne makes a decision to cut back on First Fleet's combat deployments to preserve their assets for "the long war ahead". In a leaked communique, Admiral Calder expresses his fury at Admiral Byrne for not listening to him, for seriously miscalculating Admiral Steele's strategy, and for hoarding First Fleet assets for his secret project.
The blitz took its toll closer to home, as well. After suffering 70% casualties during the defence of Rheza Station, the Navajas are being disbanded and their surviving pilots are being transferred to other squadrons. Brie decides that he doesn't have the reflexes he had at the beginning of his career two decades ago, making him a poor choice to fight on the front lines. He opts instead to transfer to Rheza Station, training fighter pilots. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Kassim did not report for the defence of Rheza Station, instead drinking in his quarters. When Captain Telfer finds him there, he court-martials Kassim, resulting in a psychological discharge and his transfer to a government center on Earth for spiritual healing.
This leaves Laporte in command of the squadron for its last mission. The Navajas are sent to investigate a loss of contact with the UEC Dea Icaunis, a Sanctus-class cruiser. It is believed that enemy action is the reason for losing contact with the cruiser, and as such they are to recon the area in force.
Walkthrough
As has been the case for the entirety of Act I, you can only fly the Uhlan in this mission; by the end of it, you may wish you had something stronger. I'd suggest at least one bank of Mauls for this mission and at least one bank of Hellfires, maybe two for knife fights with fighters.
As you jump in, you see the Dea Icaunis being attacked by 2 Erinyes, an Aurora, an Atalanta, and a Perseus. Sounds like a bar joke, but those who pick up on the code words inside the enemy's intercepted transmissions will stop laughing quickly. For those of you who don't get it: Those are GTVA SOC pilots, the elite of the elite. And you're now their targets.
There are two ways to go about this. You can either hold at the start point and draw them to you, or charge them in range of the Dea Icaunis (who still has her armament). Either way, you'll need to destroy them all to proceed. Just be careful with your wingmen; the SOC pilots are good enough to reduce them to expanding balls of gas very quickly if you don't cover them. Fighters on either side will call for help if their hull falls to critical; this is good for prioritizing which wingman to cover, or which fighter to destroy next.
Once the fighters are destroyed, there will be some dialogue, indicating that it appears that the fighters disabled the Dea Icaunis so it could be boarded by marines. Laporte calls the Solaris for back up. A few minutes later, an Elysium transport will show up with some more fighter escort -- right on schedule. There's a bit of dialogue here, and then they attack; I recommend letting them come to you, which buys you time for Beta wing to arrive from the Solaris. You'll have Trebuchet launches coming at you when they get in three kilometers, so if you're in bad shape (or just repaired), hide behind the Dea Icaunis (or stay somewhere near it, do not fly out into the open). Destroy the fighters and the transport when they arrive; it should be short work.
After you do so, you'll be free to jump back home, where you find out who was so important on that cruiser...
Tips
- Because the escort list can cover ten ships at once, you can add both your wingmen and all hostile SOC ships, so you can keep coverage on who needs defending or who needs to get shot.
- The best idea to keep track of where all the SOC ships are is to use your in-game Lists (the F3 key), place both SOC wings in one button, and keep that button handy in case you need to find where a particular ship is (you can also use the F5 key to keep track of where your wingmen are).
- Target Padlock (not assigned by default), Target my Target's Target (J key), and Target my Target's Attacker (G key) can also be put to good use in this mission.
- Both Erinyes fighters are armed with UD-8 Kaysers, the rest of the team is armed with a Balor, and they are armed with Tornadoes and Harpoons. Keep that in mind.
- If for some reason, your support ship does not want to repair one of your wingmen, you can send your wingmen home (keeping both of them alive fulfills a bonus objective).
Notes
- Laporte cannot actually die in this mission. If she gets to the point where she would be destroyed, her fighter is disabled, there is a cutscene showing her bleeding and passing out, and the mission is over with a negative (but acceptable) outcome.
- This only applies to the first part of the mission. If Laporte dies after reinforcements arrive, you have to redo the whole mission to continue.
- There is an inconsistency between the mission proper and its debriefing. In the mission, the SOC pilots are shown in the targeting HUD to belong to the 41st Bengals; in the debriefing, their captain is said to belong to the 64th Bengals.
- In Freespace 2, Xinny and Zero were the SOC pilots that flew alongside Lieutenant Commander Christopher Snipes and Alpha 1 in the recon mission beyond the second Knossos portal.
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