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MISSION 3
Description: In which the Apesokari is (hopefully) rescued by the Akrotiri.
Background
Crippled, the Apesokari is an easy prey to Aesdherian bombers and warships. The Akrotiri is on its way to assist the Apesokari and launch a repair crew ("artisans," as the Ancients call them). The mission goes as planned and the Aesdherian attack force is repelled without suffering any notable casualties.
The Shade and Ghost, two cruisers encountered in the previous engagement, emerge from subspace to attack the Apesokari, but are easily forced to withdraw. The carrier Caliburn is soon to arrive, but the Akrotiri emerges from subspace shortly thereafter and easily annihilates the Aesdherian carrier with its heavy weaponry.
Walkthrough
You'll be doing a lot of bomber intercept as well as disarming capital ships. My suggestion would be the Kato armed with a bank of Quasars and a bank of Cretes or Pharnecs, and packing your secondaries with Nightmares for charging the Aesdherian carrier near the end. You might be able to get away with the Tylisos armed with Quasars, using your turrets to kill the bombers' shields; however, I never found it survivable enough when dealing with the cap ships' guns.
The mission starts after a bit of dialogue with two wings of bombers with fighter escort jumping in to kill the Apesokari. These bombers are insanely fast (130 m/s on afterburner), have multiple guns, and will launch fast-moving torpedoes at close range. Given that the range of your primaries are too short for feasible warhead intercept, it's best to concentrate on killing the bombers as fast as possible. This is why I prefer the Crete for this task; its low energy drain means you can boost your engine power a bit to keep the range close with the enemy strike craft. Don't forget to deal with the escort when you have the chance, otherwise they will thin out your wingmen significantly.
After killing each wing of bombers, another will jump in to replace it; Storm wing will be replaced by Grue wing, and Furies 1-3 will be replaced with Furies 4-6. When one wing of replacements are killed, two Aesdherian cruisers with more fighter escort will jump in. The beam cannons on these cruisers need to be destroyed, so switch to your Quasars and engage them at maximum range (1500m). Try not to use all of your secondaries, as you will probably need them later. Once the cruisers are disarmed, they will jump out of the area.
While engaging the cruisers, two more wings of bombers (with more fighter escort) will jump in to attack the Apesokari. Deal with them like you dealt with the first wave. As most of your wingmen will be dealing with the cruisers, the new bombers will be mostly unengaged; this is probably when the Apesokari will take the most damage. Take care of the bombers quickly once the cruisers have been nullified.
After killing one wave of bombers, an Aesdherian carrier, the Caliburn, will jump in, and you'll be tasked with destroying her beam cannon. This is probably the hardest part of the mission, as the cannon is well-armored and your wingmen will most likely still be dealing with the bombers, leaving you alone to close with the carrier and disarm her. Use your swarm missiles and Quasar guns to destroy the cannon as fast as you can.
After disabling the beam cannon, the Akrotiri will jump in to finish the Caliburn with her main cannon. It's more or less a fireworks display at this point. After the Caliburn is destroyed, land on the fighter bay of the Akrotiri, located at the bow of the ship.
Notes
This mission grants you a promotion on completion.
