Argonautica

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ACT 3, MISSION 5

Fighter squadron: 203rd Scorpions

Description: The GTD Aquitaine is incapacitated a short distance away from the Gamma Draconis jump node in the nebula. The 203rd is sortied to provide fighter cover and oversee repairs.

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Background

While on the retreat from the nebula, the Aquitaine is attacked by the SC Urobach and its escort wings. While the Aquitaine was able to destroy most of the Shivans, it was not without the disabling of the destroyer's engines and weapons subsystems, as well as its fighterbay. Alpha wing of the 203rd is scrambled to defend the destroyer from further Shivan attack while a repair team from Vega, carrying the necessary components, makes its transit.

Walkthrough

This is a fairly standard nebula bomber-intercept mission. Just make sure you prioritize your targets appropriately and don't get stuck on the wrong side of the Aquitaine. The ship is two kilometers long, so if you are racing from one side to the other, without completely clearing either, you are wasting precious time that could be spent wasting bombers.

If you clear the area of bombers, even for just a few moments, pull alongside the SCv Abaddon. Even though you can do little more than grind through its turrets, maintaining proximity to the Shivan corvette will provide sensor support for the Aquitaine and allow the destroyer to bombard it with its beam cannons.

When the GTT Argo arrives with its escort cruiser, the GTC Agrippa, protect it. Even though the Agrippa is an Aeolus-class cruiser, the Argo does not have the hull strength to withstand sustained Shivan attack. Leave your wingmen to cover the Aquitaine, while you defend the Argo. Once the transport is about to dock with the Aquitaine, you should resume covering the destroyer.

Epsilon wing may arrive if all of your wingmen are killed. However, it is advisable to keep the whole of Alpha wing alive for the whole mission, since reinforcements lower your score.

Objectives

(Objectives are viewable by pressing F4 and going to the Objectives tab)

• Primary Objectives:
  • Defend the Aquitane until it safely departs the nebula

Medals

You will obtain an Imperial Order of Vasuda for defending the Aquitane.

Tips

• Aquarius wing may still arrive even after the Aquitaine departs from the nebula. If you want more kills and points, engage them and make sure that the "Destroy Aquarius" objective is completed before returning to base.

Notes

• The third stage of the debriefing mentioned a sighting of a Sathanas:

Your sighting of the Shivan juggernaut has provided Intelligence with valuable information regarding the potential strength and movements of the enemy fleet.

The stage's usage formula is set to false, so it will never appear. At this point, it's very likely that Volition added a Sathanas in the mission and later decided to remove it.

Name Origin

Argonautica is an epic poem that describes the events of a ship named Argo. Argo was sent on a mission to retrieve a sacred object called the Golden Fleece.

Notable ships present

• GTD Aquitaine
• SCv Abaddon
• GTT Argo
• GTC Agrippa

Technical information

Argonautica
File name:	SM3-05.fs2
File size:	85.0 KB
Author:	Brad Johnson
Total number of objects:	73 (+3 waypoints)
Total number of wings:	15
Number of mission events:	63
Number of messages:	32
Event music:	5: Deuteronomy
Briefing music:	Brief5