Nothing Is True

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

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MISSION 18
ACT 3, MISSION 01

Fighter squadron: Falcata Wing, Fedayeen

Description: To earn her spurs as a Fedayeen Operator, Laporte must lead Falcata Wing to destroy a Vasudan convoy.

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Background

Laporte has spent the last two weeks in the Red Room while her body was adapted to be able to utilize the Nagari Process communication used in the Dreamscape, and she is ready to leave. While there, she has bizarre dreams -- dreams of Ken and the end of the world, and of someone named Sam.

She spent a long time grieving, and almost didn't want to fly or fight again. But she won't break. She has work to do -- namely, the following:

1. Figure out what's going on in her head;
2. exact revenge on the people responsible for the rout at Saturn;
3. find Simms;
4. win the war; and
5. figure out what Ken (assuming he's real) is going on about, and stop it.

When she exits the Red Room, Laporte is brought up to speed on current events. The Federation is in dire straits. With Vasudan logistical support and without the Wargods to hamper his efforts, Admiral Steele has free reign to prepare for his invasion of Earth, which is predicted to happen in less than three weeks. The Council of Elders believes that if the UEF falls, the human race will be destroyed; thus, they have authorized the Fedayeen, created by the surviving pilots of the Lucifer mission, to take whatever steps necessary to stop Steele's invasion, or to delay it long enough to allow for the implementation of the Council's end-stage contingency.

The Fedayeen has two aces in the hole -- the CASSANDRA supercomputer, which can run extremely sophisticated predictive models to forecast future events, and the Hammer of Light, the band of reformed Vasudan fanatics that has infiltrated its agents deep into the GTVA's military structure. The Fedayeen and the HoL formed a secret alliance via radio between Sol and Alpha Centauri 30 years ago, and the Epsilon Four's visit to Emperor Khonsu II shortly before the fall of Jupiter allowed them to contact the HoL and activate that alliance.

To delay Steele's invasion, the UEF must constrict the flow of Vasudan supplies to his fleet. Since using the UEF Navy to do this would anger the Vasudans and give them casus belli, it falls to the Fedayeen to do so deniably.

To that end, Falcata Wing's first mission is to destroy a Vasudan convoy, Bellwether 4.12. The convoy consists of four gas miners, several smaller transports containing replacement pilots and warship officers, two cruisers with fighter escort, and one AWACS ship. The AWACS is a linchpin of the convoy's defense, as it runs the tactical network that can slave all of the convoy's turrets to focus on a single target; thus, it is the initial target.

There are two options available for nullifying the AWACS. The first is Kukri Wing, a group of captured pilots from Gaian Effort's Kostadin Cell flying Scimitar fighters with their ejection charges replaced with high explosives; they have agreed to destroy the AWACS if ordered to in exchange for their freedom. The idea behind using them in the attack is to have the convoy report contact with the Gefs before they go off the air, making it seem like the Gefs are attacking the Vasudans and playing both sides against the middle. The second option is to transmit an HoL virus to the AWACS to crash the convoy's tactical net. Either way, with the AWACS mission-killed, the UEF AWACS Midwinter 5-1 will jam the convoy's transmissions, with the gunboat Midwinter 5-2 escorting it. Midwinter 5-2 can be called upon to do light attacks if ordered.

After the AWACS is off the air, the next task is to make the convoy scatter. Transmitting the HoL virus to the gas miners will disable their safety interlocks, turning them into flying bombs; destroying them will create a large shockwave that will destroy any nearby vessels. After the first one goes up, the convoy will scatter, making them easy pickings for your fighters. All Vasudan ships must be destroyed, lest they report what really happened. The virus can also be transmitted to the cruisers to disable their weapons.

So, to sum up:

1. Nullify the convoy AWACS.
2. Infect and destroy the gas miners.
3. Destroy all other Vasudan ships.

Total number of forces

Forces involved
Belligerents
UEF	GTVA
Ships
1 UEA Oculus Midwinter 5-1 1 UEC Custos Midwinter 5-2 1 UENB Alexandria Observation Point	1 GVA Setekh Tabia 4 GVG Anuket Chi (4) 2 GVC Aten Heket Ogdoad 6 GVT Isis Rho 1 Rho 2 Rho 3 Rho 4 Upsilon 7 Upsilon 8 4 GVFr Ma'at Rho 5 Rho 6 Rho 7 Rho 8 12 GVFr Bes Iota (6) Upsilon 1 Upsilon 2 Upsilon 3 Upsilon 4 Upsilon 5 Upsilon 6 3 GVT Argo Tau (3)
Strikecraft
4 UEF Ainsarii Falcata 1 Laporte Falcata 2 Falconer Falcata 3 Kovacs Falcata 4 Vidaura 6 Scimitar Kukri (6) Kostadin Cell 3 UEF Kentauroi Ridwan Beta (3)	6 GVF Serapis Aries (3) 486th Tactical Cancer (3) 486th Tactical 6 GTF Aurora Capricorn 1 899th Undine Capricorn 2 899th Undine Caedus (4) 13th Eidolon 4 GTF Atalanta Corona (4) 13th Eidolon 2 GTF Perseus Capricorn 3 899th Undine Capricorn 4 899th Undine 2 GTF Myrmidon Capricorn 5 899th Undine Capricorn 6 899th Undine 2 GVF Seth Gemini 1 477th Ta Dehent Gemini 2 477th Ta Dehent 2 GVF Tauret Gemini 3 477th Ta Dehent Gemini 4 477th Ta Dehent 2 GVF Horus Gemini 5 477th Ta Dehent Gemini 6 477th Ta Dehent
Casualties
3 UEF Kentauroi Ridwan Beta (3) (!) 0-6 Scimitar Kukri (6) (%) Kostadin Cell	1 GVA Setekh Tabia 4 GVG Anuket Chi (4) 2 GVC Aten Heket Ogdoad 6 GVT Isis Rho 1 Rho 2 Rho 3 Rho 4 Upsilon 7 Upsilon 8 4 GVFr Ma'at Rho 5 Rho 6 Rho 7 Rho 8 12 GVFr Bes Iota (6) Upsilon 1 Upsilon 2 Upsilon 3 Upsilon 4 Upsilon 5 Upsilon 6 3 GVT Argo Tau (3) 6 GVF Serapis Aries (3) 486th Tactical Cancer (3) 486th Tactical

(!) Blue-on-blue casualty
(%) Possible blue-on-blue casualty