First Strike

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ACT 1 MISSION 10

Fighter squadron:
Description:

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Background

The Cain-class cruiser Taranis has been chased from the Beta Cygni system back to the Ikeya system. It is low on supplies, and, due to recent engagements, is lightly guarded.

Long range sensors indicated that only two fighters and three bombers remain to protect the Taranis.

The Taranis is heading to the Beta Cygni subspace node, where it will probably resupply. This will allow for a small window of opportunity in which to conduct a strike.

Your primary objective is to disable and disarm the Taranis in order to enable its capture. This will be our first attempt to capture a major Shivan vessel. Three wings will be assigned to this task.

Alpha wing will be flying Athena bombers. These bombers just arrived on the Galatea and are equipped with the new Stiletto bomb. The Stiletto is capable of destroying subsystems in one hit. Alpha's primary responsibility will be to disarm and disable the Taranis.

Beta wing is assigned to escort Alpha and protect it from fighter attacks. Beta will fly Apollo-class fighters.

Gamma will fly Valkyries and should engage any hostile fighters and bombers in the area. If needed elsewhere, they can be assigned to any task that you see fit.

Once the Taranis has been disarmed and disabled, Omega transports will arrive and capture it. When the Taranis has been captured, you are to return to the Galatea for debriefing.

Do not allow the Taranis to escape or be destroyed. Good luck.

Walkthrough

Order your wingmen to ignore the Taranis. They will engage all the fighters and bombers but on your way to the Taranis, you might want to throw a missile or two at one of them. Switch your secondary weapon to Stiletto. Target the Taranis's engines and take them out with the Stilettos and proceed to take out the turrets using your Stilettos. Omega 1 and 2 will jump in momentarily.

Omega 1 will dock with the Taranis but say the attachment was unsuccessful. Then Omega 2 will dock and try to penetrate the hull. After a short time, Omega 2 will give up. After that, the Halkins will jump in and dock with the Taranis. The Halkins will ask for time to brace the attachment and then head to the jump node. All this while you are fighting 4 Rama Basilisks and 2 Vishnu Scorpions throughout the mission.

After the Halkins has departed with the Taranis, return to base.

Alternate Missions

If you did not destroy any of the cargo in the previous mission, then the Taranis will be at 98@ health with all of its subsystems damaged only moderately. Suffice to say, this is the only instance in which failing an objective in one mission actually benefits you in the next.

Notes

This is quite a long haul, with hostile wings appearing quite a distance from each other. If you don't feel like flying back and forth all the time, you can set engines to full and go get something to drink. The Shivans are targeting you and your wingmen, not the Halkins or the Taranis, so there's practically no way to fail this mission once the Halkins has arrived.

Since you'll be dogfighting a lot in this mission—if you want some more kills—you may consider one bank of Stilettos only and one bank of Furys and Avengers in both your primary banks. Rearm the Stilettos if you run out of them while disarming and disabling the Taranis.

Notable ships present

• SC Taranis