Preserving the Balance

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MISSION 14

Fighter squadron: 56 Squadron

Description: The Shivans have entered the Knossos and are bearing down on the Temeraire and its battlegroup.

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Background

A massive Shivan build-up has been detected near the Knossos to N362. A detachment from this fleet, comprising two Shivan destroyers, are now approaching the Temeraire and its battlegroup at full speed.

Walkthrough

This is a scramble mission, so you cannot choose your loadout. You will be flying a GTF Perseus, armed with a Balor, Prometheus S, a bank of Harpoons and a bank of Tornados.

Use your Harpoons to destroy the forward beams on the Vassago. You may also wish to disable the rear stinger beams.

Once those beams are down, head back towards the Temeraire and assist with bomb intercept. As always, Shivan bomb shockwaves do a metric ton of damage to your fighter, so don't get hit by too many of them.

The massive firepower of the Temeraire's battlegroup should make quick work of the Shivan destroyers. Once the two destroyers go down, however, the Shivans send in three more. Against the odds, you decide that, if this is the end, then it will end with a bang, not a whimper.

Right after you give orders to your wingmen to charge the destroyers and do as much damage as possible, several ships, much like the ones you saw not too long ago, appear on the battlefield. They immediately begin moving against the Shivan destroyers, making short work of all three of them before vanishing into subspace.

As everyone attempts to figure out what happened, you are given orders to return to base. Fly into the Temeraire's fighterbay to end the mission.

Notes

• In the successful debrief for this mission, Samuel Bei address these aliens by their proper name for the first time in his personal log—the Vishnans. This is what they call themselves in Terran standard. They are the cause of the Duke going rogue, and ever since the Vishnans made contact with the cruiser, the Shivans knew that the 14th Battlegroup was in this universe. The Vishnans are the Great Preservers, counterparts of the Shivans being the Great Destroyers. They restore balance to the universe through preservation, just as how the Shivans theoretically do the same through destruction. Samuel Bei believes that he is the only one the Vishnans "talk" to, through the whispers he has heard throughout his entire life. He wants to do likewise, but has not been able to. He ends his log with a bitter question about why he was cursed with such a gift.
• The Vassago's rear SRed stinger beams were changed to the LRSRed in this mission. The LRSRed is the SRed with double the target range and half the firepower, enabling it to damage the Temeraire even from outside the effective range of a normal SRed, hence forcing the player to decide between disarming them to reduce damage done to the Terran destroyer, or ignoring them and prioritising other beam turrets and Shivan bombers.
• The Duke and Bretonia are beam-protected for this mission. This prevents the Shivan destroyers from prioritising them above the Temeraire or Solace with their first beam salvo should you fail to disarm them fast enough.
• The fate of the Solace and Temeraire are linked for this mission; if one of them is destroyed, the other ship is destroyed via a self-destruct sexp. This is a relic of earlier versions of the mission in which the two ships were docked.
• Unknown Cruiser wing consists of only one ship, Unknown Cruiser 1.

Total number of forces

Forces involved
Belligerents
GTVA	Unknown	Shivans
Ships
1 GTD Titan Temeraire 2 GTC Hyperion Duke Bretonia 1 GTCv Chimera Labouchere 1 GTL Anemoi Solace 1 Orion Refit Sanctuary	1 Vishnan Sacred Keeper Unknown Destroyer 1 Vishnan Arbiter Unknown Cruiser (1) 2 Vishnan Protector Unknown Escort (2)	3 SD Ravana Haagenti Khabanda Vassago 2 SD Demon Dantalion Leraje
Strikecraft
4 GTF Perseus Alpha 1 Bei Alpha 2 Corey Alpha 3 Taylor Alpha 4 4 GTF Kulas Zeta (4) 6 GTF Myrmidon Epsilon (6) 3 GTB Boanerges Delta (3) 1 GTF Comanche Sanctuary Alpha 1 Iwakura 1 GTF Seminole Sanctuary Alpha 2 Tell 1 GTF Cherokee Sanctuary Alpha 3	6 Vishnan Missionary Unknown Fighter (6) 4 Vishnan Inquisitor Unknown Bomber (4)	6 SF Astaroth Vishnu (6) 4-8 SF Mara Arjuna (4) *2 waves 8-16 SB Nahema Brahma (4) Rama (4) *3 waves 4-12 SB Nephilim Shivore (4) *3 waves 6-18 SB Seraphim Krishna (6) *3 waves
Casualties
0-1 GTF Perseus Alpha 4 0-4 GTF Kulas Zeta (4) 0-6 GTF Myrmidon Epsilon (6) 0-3 GTB Boanerges Delta (3)	0-6 Vishnan Missionary Unknown Fighter (6) 0-4 Vishnan Inquisitor Unknown Bomber (4)	3 SD Ravana Haagenti Khabanda Vassago 2 SD Demon Dantalion Leraje 0-6 SF Astaroth Vishnu (6) 0-8 SF Mara Arjuna (4) *2 waves 0-16 SB Nahema Brahma (4) Rama (4) *3 waves 0-12 SB Nephilim Shivore (4) *3 waves 0-18 SB Seraphim Krishna (6) *3 waves