King's Oath

The following information refers to the Solaris universe and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace continuity.

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Solaris Campaign Black Sun - Mission 8: King's Oath

System: Vicare

Description: Sulsian and Commonwealth refugees fleeing the Malikan advance get caught between the Combine and Federation. The Combine lock down Vicare in their search for a fugitive. The Hoshikuzu and Nassau must escort a refugee convoy out of Vicare.

Created: April 22nd, 2020

Released: October 9th, 2021

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Background

Katherine starts to feel the weight of recent events and vents her feelings to Stuart. She's feeling like she's being taken up by a tide beyond her control and luck is all that's keeping her afloat. This is more than she bargained for. In this time of strife, she falls back on her values - doing what's right by the refugees and looking after her crew. Katherine tells Stuart she's going out to fight in the cockpit due to a shortage of pilots, but still thinks she belongs on the bridge of the Hoshikuzu.

Waystation sensors report an inbound Combine battlegroup - ETA 30 minutes. The convoy is scrambled to leave Vicare. Captain Oberthur on the Thanatos offers to buy the convoy time by engaging the Combine warships. The Nassau and Hoshikuzu are not expected to fight alongside the Federation ships, but remain with the convoy in case hostile ships break through the lines.

Meiks and Ross are Alfa wing, with Katherine Lau leading Bravo wing. The rest of the Hopewell mercenary pilots will be distributed to Bravo and Charlie wings.

Walkthrough

Recommended loadout: Tor-class bomber, Gattler, Stiletto

You have the option of two Comet missile gunships (Alfa wing as default), four Warden defenders (Bravo wing as default), two Tor bombers (Charlie wing default) and two new Vulture-class strikers in reserve. Primary weapon options are Maxims, Vulcans, Gattlers, Huaqings and Limonkas. Secondary weapon options are Sparrow AAMs, Stiletto ASMs and Jackhammer ASMs. What you choose will depend on what role you want to play, and what roles you will depend on your wingmen for.

As you exit the Hopewell, the last of the civilian transports are undocking from Vicare Station. The evacuation is a mess, and Lau laments the amount of time wasted. Ross tries to reassure her by noting his previous experience fighting Combine warships, which Lau is surprised to hear. The convoy is forced into action as a Combine Astral-class battlecruiser with two previously unseen cruiser-type warships arrive. Two Khopesh support carriers with docked attack craft round out the group. The battlegroup is led by Rear Admiral Kakotchka, who announces a lockdown on Vicare and orders the civilian convoy to power down their engines.

The Federation ships move into attack formations, but before the Thanatos can get into range the two Combine cruisers deploy their missile pods and launch a torrent of Javelin missiles at the Federation battlecruiser. Close to two hundred missiles home in on Thanatos, overwhelming her defenses and destroying the battlecruiser in a single salvo.

As the convoy make best speed away from the Combine ships, another salvo of almost two hundred missiles is launched towards the Stalwart, a Custodian-class light cruiser. With only light ships left in the battlegroup, the Zaragoza moves in and finishes them off with her heavy mass drivers.

After the refugee convoy defies Kakotchka's orders to power down, the Combine admiral launches her LACs and strikecraft wings. Three wings of Defender fighters, one wing of Interdictor strikers and four LACs make an attack run on the convoy. Meiks reminds Ross of his duty to protect Commonwealth civilians (and by extension the entire convoy). In this moment of crisis, Ross's officer training kicks in. He tells Lau to give him command authority over the Hopewell wings, knowing that coordinated action was the ony way the militia could repel the Combine assault.

It is advised that ships with heavy cannons (Gattler/Limonka) engage the LACs due to their Medium Armour having damage resistance against Maxims and Huaqings. The Vulcan hasn't got the raw damage of the heavier cannons, but is a reasonable alternative if the player needs to engage enemy fighters. Wardens should engage the Defender fighter escorts, while the Vultures or Comets should target the strikers. The striker wing has orders to engage the Hoshikuzu, which can become heavily damaged in a very short amount of time if the strikers are allowed to get into weapons range.

During this time the Combine warships are on an intercept course to the convoy and slowly draw closer.

After the strike wings are eliminated, Meiks notes that something needs to be done before the battlecruiser gets into mass driver range. Stuart orders the fighter wings to target the Zaragoza's weapons subsystem to cripple fire control for the heavy guns. This is where flying the Tor bomber is useful - the thick hull ensures surviveability during the attack run and the generous capacity for Stilettos (8 total) means you can usually take out the weapons systems alone, maybe bringing your wingmen along to draw fire.

Once the weapons subsystem is destroyed, the Hoshikuzu and Nassau move in to engage with Kai anti-ship missiles. To aid the missiles reaching their target, Ross advises taking out point defense turrets or weapons subsystems of the escort ships. For the Torrent-class cruisers, taking out the two ventral CIWS turrets on each ship should be sufficient. The Khopesh frigates are bristling with point defense turrets, so taking out the weapons subsystems on the dorsal hull may be more efficient.

Once the convoy reaches a certain distance from the station, they can jump to hyperspace. However, if the Zaragoza is in proximity, the mass of the battlecruiser precludes a safe jump. The Zaragoza will need to be damaged enough to break off from the intercept - she does not need to be destroyed or forced to jump away. Once the Zaragoza is far enough away from the convoy, the civilian ships can jump and the mission is complete.

Notable ships present

• Hoshikuzu - Hoshikuzu-class corvette refit
• Nassau - Horizon-class destroyer
• Hopewell - Argus-class carrier
• Remembering Gogoltha - Lugus-class freighter
  
  

• FNS Thanatos - Liberty-class battlecruiser
• FNS Stalwart - Custodian-class cruiser
  
  

• CS Zaragoza - Astral-class battlecruiser
• CS Ariadne - Torrent-class cruiser
• CS Thresher - Torrent-class cruiser
• CS Terjgon - Halberd-class cruiser
• CS Scorpion - Victory-class destroyer
• CS Yucatan - Victory-class destroyer
• CS Vera - Victory-class destroyer
• CS Kyozist - Victory-class destroyer

Outcome

• Decisive Combine victory.
• Vicare station is occupied by Combine forces.
• Zaragoza, Ariadne and Thresher are damaged by private security forces.

Notes

• This is the first appearance of the terrifying Torrent-class arsenal cruisers of the Combine Navy.
• The Hoshikuzu uses her ASM launcher in combat for the first time.
• Lau discovers new information about three of her crew - Ross and Meiks are Commonwealth Navy officers, and Erikson alone has seen these arsenal cruisers before.
• Admiral Kakotchka was hunting the ANI agent "Opal Cross", who Ross meets next mission via message correspondence. It is theorised Opal Cross has discovered the reason why the Combine are arming the Malikans.