The Horror in the Deep

The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe.

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ACT 1 MISSION 8

Fighter squadron: 212th Silver Scythes

Description:

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Background

• Inflight Briefing

Presently, Alpha wing is flying close escort to the TRGS Meridian and the TRGF Haulian. You are flying in the subspace corridor between the Tau Sigma and Altair jump nodes.

• At present, there is no sign of the pirate craft, designated Long John wing. We know these to be eight Ares class fighters. They are more heavily armed than your Myrmidons. However, we expect them to be carrying armament intended for disabling ships. This may be to your advantage, but don't count on it.

Remember that in subspace, your shields will not work. The only benefit in this situation is that neither will theirs.

• Because of their six forward gun mounts and heavier armor, it is recommended that you avoid attacking Long John wing head on. To aid you, we have dispatched the GTS Servicor to reload your weapons. The Servicor is carrying additional missile supplies, so you may change your missile configuration if you so desire.

• Due to the nature of this type of mission, we can expect that Long John wing will not be operating alone. You can be sure of additional support craft in the area, and possibly even another wing of fighters. Be on your guard.

• The Vasudans have dispatched Omicron, wing of Serapis class fighters. They have also dispatched the GVT Isiroth to aid you. We expect them shortly.

This is a dangerous mission, pilot. Good luck.

Walkthrough

There's a ton of campaign-persistent variables in this mission. If you destroyed any of the Long John fighters in the last mission, they won't appear. The briefing sounds imposing, but killing unshielded AI fighters is actually ridiculously easy. Just stay safe and don't do anything stupid.

The "pirates" will try to disable the convoy and Mackie. Blow that Hygeia off Alpha 2 before they make off with him (actually, they never will). Mackie will probably be at 1% hull by then, although the explosion of the Hygeia right above his ship won't faze him one bit.

The Mudenerei will blow up, then, surprise surprise, the Nyarlathotep will make a brief appearance. Fight off a few more enemy wings while the convoy gets its engines back on-line.

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Quite tough on higher difficulties, as even a single missile hit will put a serious dent in your hull, and a single hit from an Ares can destroy an important subsystem. For that reason, certain ground rules apply: Let your AI wingmen go first, never go head-to-head, don't pursue a target being hit by flak, and be liberal in your use of countermeasures.

With that in mind, the Long John wing should make fairly easy killing. As long as you don't get in front of them, Ares fighters are gratifyingly easy targets, and even more so when they are unshielded. The real challenge comes later, as you will be harrassed by a wing of Ulysses fighters while Hygeia-class support ships try to make off with any disabled wingmen of yours. Not to mention a Triton sporting both flak and AAA, which you should definitely leave to the AI unless you can find a safe angle to approach.

The Ulysses are annoying even without shields as they are such a small target and love to fly evasive, and on higher difficulties are quite fond of lobbing missiles at you too. Ideally, try to let the AIs distract them while you pick off the support ships from a long enough distance to avoid the blast when they go up, and provide support to the AIs once they have the enemy's attention. This should see you through the mission in one piece, though it may not feel very brave.

Notable ships present

• GTS Servicor
• TRGS Meridian
• TRGF Haulian
• GVT Isiroth
• Blackbeard ("pirate" Triton)
• Drake ("pirate" Elysium)
• Mudenerei ("pirate" Charybdis AWACS)
• SD Nyarlathotep (named "Unknown" in this mission)