Special Operations 1 Replay Week 1

Dundradal

Frog Blast the Vent Core!
Congratulations pilots! You've taken out K'tithrak Mang and now it's time to continue the fight!

Because SO1 has 5 missions in each system I'm going to reduce weekly missions to this amount to make it easier to follow as well as start and stop.

This week it's the 5 missions of the Pembroke System. It's the key jump nexus between Vega and Enigma. Be vigilant pilots and long live the Confederation!
 
If this whole replay effort doesn't end suddenly and violently at the end of SO1, I'll know something's fishy.
 
This sucks, I missed the replay...
Just had the itch to play the whole WC&Priv saga once more and then I see that it's already going on as a collective effort.
With my upcoming vacation and the facts that I like to play Priv 1 between WC2&3 I wonder if I'll catch up some week.
Anyway, have fun at Ghorah Khar.:D
 
Actually, the SO missions have four for each area for a total of 16. There are four 'second chance' missions but I tend to play to win. I certainly don't expect the final SO1 mission to be a cakewalk.
 
I finished the first mission, and I expect to have the other three completed today. I WAS correct about the fighter count increasing, and I've been adding the requested external views in the SO missions. I may actually use that Ferret's heatseeker in an upcoming mission but I honestly forget the fighter breakdown. I'm pretty sure they mix up the fighters more often, so a series won't mean I'm stuck in the Ferret for the first quarter of the campaign like in WC2. I'm NOT looking forward to the Crossbow since I consider it a much more ungraceful ship in comparison to the Broadsword. IIRC, the Rapier gets a change on the guns so I don't remember exactly what the combo was. I'll find out eventually.

P.S. - You can find out if Angel is right handed or left handed in the final few videos of WC2 I recorded.
 
I'll be late to the party this week, guys. I'm stuck out of town for most of the week :(

McGruff, I've managed to keep Blair alive so far, but SO1's a worry. Last time I tried, though, I didn't know about the Maniac Manuever. Hopefully it will work.
 
Quite an interesting mix on the missions. You get two with the Ferret, one with the Sabre, and one with the Broadsword. I missed recording mission three somehow and did try twice. It's too bad since I really wanted to capture that mega cannon toasting the Fralthra. And it took me two attempts to capture mission four. I hate it when Fraps acts finicky, so I hope I can be forgiven. Mission three was a bit of a challenge, but that's only because I got sloppy. I have to wonder HOW damaged those Ferrets are in mission four since just one hit from my forward guns toasted one, and it was a piece of cake taking out the others with my rear guns.
 
I'm going to change things slightly. Due to how long it takes me to make that journal, I'll upload the videos and take screen shots and post them first. I should have missions 1,2, and 4 up later today on my YouTube area. I'm still 'shaking my fist' at losing mission 3 on the recording, but as long as I get most of the missions I'm hoping people don't mind the occasional gap. I can't promise that I'll get a successful recording of that last mission IF I survive it. So if I do make it thru, I'm not certain people will believe it without proof.
 
Wow, I certainly got into a picture taking frenzy! Sixteen new shots uploaded into the Photobucket account from just four missions and the intro cinematic. I'm currently uploading the videos of the action into my YouTube account.
 

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Special Operations 1

In the dark depths of space, an ominous voice says, ‘I will return, HUMAN!!!’
Prince Thrakath orders Khasra to lead an assault on Ghorah Khar. Khasra says that such an assault would be suicide. Thrakath demands to know if Khasra is questioning his orders, and Khasra boldly says that he is not only questioning the orders but also wondering why the Prince is still in charge of the battle fleet. Thrakath is astounded that Khasra would dare to insult him. Khasra points out that the Prince was responsible for the failure at K’Tithrak Mang and should have died for the loss of the base there. Prince Thrakath states his belief that the Emperor still favors him due to not attempting to personally assassinate him. The Prince then gives Khasra a choice between obeying his orders or dying as a traitor.

I meet Admiral Tolywn in his office, and he tells me the good news that I’ve been promoted back to my original rank of Colonel before Jazz’s sabotage. I’ve also been requested to join the Special Operations division. Special Operations has a reputation of taking assignments that are considered impossible and usually succeeding. There are still Kilrathi forces to deal with, but after taking care of them Paladin will be the person giving me instructions on my Special Operations assignment. Paladin is the chief field officer of the Special Operations division. Tolwyn expresses his expectations that I’ll follow Paladin’s orders better than his. As a cover for my Special Operations assignment, all personnel except Hobbes, Angel, and Tolwyn will be informed that I’ve been sent on an extended R&R.

Pembroke 1
I meet Angel in the briefing room, and she tells all of the pilots that with our victory in K’Tithrak Mang the Confederation controls the Enigma sector. With our victory, however, comes the need for vigilance since the Pembroke system we are currently in is a jump nexus between Enigma and Vega sectors. The only way for the Kilrathi to win here is to either take or destroy Pembroke station and block Confed troop movements. In an effort to prevent this, a thorough rotation of patrols will be undertaken. Stingray and I will take the lead patrol. Angel advises us both to use our best judgment when engaging the Kilrathi, but not to get too cocky. She emphasizes that we can’t afford to lose any pilots, and Stingray assures Angel that he’ll help me come back in one piece. For this mission, we’ll be assigned to Super Ferrets with new control systems and two heat seeker missiles. On our first enemy encounter, there are three Drakhri Sarthas. It’s a pretty simple matter of ‘scoot and shoot’, and I take out two of the enemy fighters while Stingray scores a kill. The next wave of Kilrathi are even easier. Just two standard Sarthas, which are wiped out with little effort from the mass drivers of my Ferret. The next nav point is where all the action is! Four stealth fighters are flying escort for a Kamekh. Due to the cloaking ability, the stealth fighters certainly make survival more challenging. I weave around to avoid any stray Kilrathi from getting any easy missile shot at me. I manage to take out two of the cloaked fighters. My aft shields and armor get wiped out, and it looks like Stingray tagged me! This is NOT helping, but I concentrate on any other fighters. Stingray tags a Kilrathi, and now it looks like it’s just the Kamekh. I hear stray stealth fighter attacks, but I don’t see the fighter or any shots so he’s either on my six and a bad shot or attempting to take out Stingray. Due to the fragile Ferret shields, I go full throttle against the Kamekh. My first run gets a very satisfying series of explosions, but that cat does not want to go down yet. On my second pass, I let that Kamekh have a full barrage of guns again and it goes up in a ball of flame. The final stealth fighter decides to reveal itself(nice Kamekh defense there, NOT!) but is blown to bits by my guns. I autopilot back to the Concordia, and wonder how those techs will react. I land and am informed that Angel wants to see me. I meet Angel in her office and tell her that there is certainly clean-up work to do here. I explain that the real action on this mission was the third nav point with the Kamekh. Stingray says we’re a hot team, though I certainly hope he uses a bit more discretion on his target selections. Angel tells us both that she’ll take this to Tactical for analysis. She agrees that there is still a good deal of work to do here in this system.

Pembroke 2
I meet Sparks in the hangar bay, and she likes how my restored rank looks. She says that things look to be a bit calm, and that she’s going to enjoy the peace and quiet. She’s also liking her opportunity to work on the Super Ferrets, and I silently wonder if they are her favorite fighter. She tells me the news that Confed has lost contact with the TCS Tsiolkovsky in the Rigel system for the last several days. Sparks expresses her hopes that I’ll still be on the Concordia when we reach Rigel since veteran pilots would have the best chance in such an unknown situation. She also asks me if I have received news of my next assignment, and believes that it might be an assignment as a commander of a fighter squadron. I tell her that Confed will certainly think of some way to keep me busy. I then meet up with Stingray in the barracks, and he’s still quite excited on how hot that previous mission was. He’s certainly feeling more upbeat due to the continuous good things happening. With the Kilrathi on the run, Jazz’s court-martial next week, and my improved attitude since being exonerated of the Tiger’s Claw destruction, Stingray wonders where I’ll be going for my R&R. I tell him that my plans are to visit Earth for a few weeks and that I need the time to relax after everything that happened. Stingray thinks it must be tough for an older flyer like me to fly so many combat missions, and that I should leave the action to the younger pilots. I tell him that I’ll let him have his fun for a while. In the briefing room, Angel points out that almost every patrol encountered the Kilrathi. Due to the larger than expected enemy presence here, a transmission with jump coordinates was detected from an enemy patrol to a much larger strike fleet. A patrol will be sent to all jump points in the area to intercept any Kilrathi. The mission assignment that Stingray and I receive will flank the Kilrathi if they appear at our first nav point. After takeoff in our Ferrets, Stingray and I head for the first nav point. Nothing interesting here except two Dralthi Drakhri, which are quite quickly dealt with. Our next encounter is quite the sight with enemy Grikaths. Using my afterburners a few times to keep moving against my targeted Grikath, I keep pummeling him with mass drivers and take out one. Stingray helps out and takes down a Grikath by himself. I’m still pursuing a second Grikath, and I decide to use one of the Ferret’s heat seekers. It looked like the Grikath successfully decoyed that missile away. That Grikath decides to make a frontal pass, and my guns take him out. A missile shot from one of the enemy fighters wipes out my front shields and armor. Looks like the Grikaths are now focusing on Stingray, and I pursue my third one. That one goes down in a barrage of gunfire. I notice another far away in my radar scope and then all of a sudden, I see one that Stingray has engaged. I take a number of shots to distract the Grikath, and I’m a bit surprised I don’t return Stingray’s favor on the first mission by hitting him. Some of the other Grikath shots hits my side, and I lose part of the port armor. Another hit to my rear shields and armor, so that other Grikath must now be on my six! I shake him loose from my tail and wipe out the Grikath that I was concentrating on. I use my second heat seeker on the final Grikath, but another decoy renders the missile harmless. I swing around to the Grikath’s side and blast that fighter to bits. I still notice two targets on my scope and go to full throttle to check them out. Furball! There are two Fralthras, and there is NO way I can take them out without torpedoes. I afterburn away from the Fralthras, and fortunately Stingray decides to follow my example. I autopilot back to the Concordia, and request priority communication during my landing approach. I tell the Concordia the situation with those Fralthras heading for Pembroke Station at full speed. The Concordia asks for confirmation of this, and I tell them again that there are two Fralthras heading for Pembroke Station. The Concordia initiates battle stations, and requests my camera data for the strike against the Fralthras. After transmission of the data, and a recount of the kill score for this mission I land.

Pembroke 3
I meet up with Stingray in the hangar, and ask if he’s ok. Stingray is a bit surprised at the Fralthras we ran into and thinks that half the Kilrathi fleet is out there to welcome us. I say that I’ve learned to expect the unexpected, and we both hear a call for all pilots to enter the briefing room. Stingray makes a bet that we’re not done flying for today, which should be an easy bet to cash in since I fully expect that we’ll be flying to deal with those Fralthras. In the briefing room, Angel explains that those ships are heading for Pembroke station. The Concordia is positioning itself to attack to keep the Fralthras from reaching the station. We will launch to take care of any fighters, and go off to Pembroke station to prevent any attack on it. Upon takeoff in Sabres, Angel establishes communication with me and tells me to be careful on this mission. I tell her that I will be careful, and Concordia warns us that the Fralthra have been sighted. I notice that I have Doomsday as a wingmate, so it’s three fighters versus whatever the Kilrathi will throw at us. There are new fighters that we are dogfighting with. They seem to be similar to the Jalkehi in terms of both front and rear guns. The armor of those enemy fighters does not seem as impressive as that of the Jalkehi, and together we eliminate three of them. I take damage to my fighter from flak, and get out of range. I watch as the Concordia unleashes a barrage of anti matter guns on the Fralthra. It takes three hits, and the Concordia opens fire again. A huge energy ball from the Concordia envelops and destroys the Fralthra. Our wing heads to Pembroke station. On our way there is a minefield, but I easily afterburn thru it without a scratch. Upon arrival at the station, there are three Grikaths looking to ice it. I take out one, but then both Stingray and Doomsday decide to get really aggressive and are shooting like crazy at the two remaining fighters. Deciding not to become a friendly fire casualty, I use a few missiles though it looked from my view that the Grikaths evaded both missile shots. Fortunately, the gunnery of both Stingray and Doomsday is accurate enough to destroy those Grikaths. I head back thru the minefield, and autopilot back to the Concordia. Upon landing, I head to Angel’s office with Stingray and Doomsday. I tell her of our successful elimination of the fighters and the defense of Pembroke against a wing of Grikaths. I also inform Angel of the new fighters we ran into, and she says that these are new Kilrathi heavy fighters called Gothri.

Pembroke 4
In the barracks, Stingray, Doomsday, Hobbes and myself play some cards. Doomsday practically begs for a good hand, and Stingray asks when I’ll be leaving for my R&R. I tell him that the R&R will start once we reach Rigel. Doomsday asks Hobbes if he is going on leave, but Hobbes tells Doomsday that Admiral Tolwyn requested his presence. The Admiral definitely needs Hobbes to consult with to make sense of recent Kilrathi developments. After completing that, Hobbes will be reassigned to Ghorah Khar. Stingray relays the news about three more planets rebelling against the Kilrathi Empire, and wonders if there will be any cats left to fight soon if this rebellion keeps spreading. In the briefing room, Angel relays the distressing news that we have lost contact with the Rigel supply depot. Free Trader vessels entering the area have also not been heard from. The new mission will be to jump in with the Concordia, find out what is going on, and take whatever action is needed. In order to ensure a successful jump into Rigel, I am to fly solo in a Broadsword to clear the jump point and return. The Concordia will have an escort of other Broadswords. Also, due to personnel losses another pilot will be assigned as my rear gunner. Angel assigns herself as the chief gunnery officer(I’m guessing the rear turret here). Upon takeoff, I establish internal communication with Angel to make sure everything is ok with the gun stations. At the first nav point are two Jalkehis in a mine field. I do dispatch the first one with guns, but do take some armor damage from the mines. The second one runs into a mine, and is vaporized. I reach the jump point with no other resistance, and on the other side of the jump everything is clear too. I notice four fighters on my scope as ‘Unidentified’, but those sure look like Ferrets to me! One hit from my forward guns destroys a Ferret. I manage to take a chunk off a second and switch to the rear turrets. Those Ferrets come in on swooping passes from my rear, but one gets careless and I let him eat a barrage from the aft turret. A second thinks I won’t notice him just below that destroyed fighter, but I pick him off too. I switch to the front guns, but that last Ferret is too nimble to get a shot at. He tries coming in on my six, but I have the rear guns ready again. He makes a desperate attempt to get out of that devastating barrage, but his fighter goes up in a hefty chunk of debris. I head back to the Concordia, and during my approach I relay the news about my encounter with the Ferrets. The Concordia wants me to report this to the Admiral upon landing. I tell Tolwyn of this attack encounter by the Ferret squadron. Tolwyn tells me that he is not surprised at hearing this and that he had a report weeks ago about pilots onboard the TCS Gettysburg having a mutiny near N’Tanya. Tolwyn felt that these pilots had moved into the Rigel system due to the multiple incidents of loss communications. N’Tanya is one of the planets rebelling against the Kilrathi, so why would there be a mutiny there? There have also been efforts to locate the Gettysburg. I express my surprise at not hearing that an entire carrier contingent has gone rouge, but the Admiral tells me that is due to the very high security taken to contain the spread of this mutiny. I am given a direct order not to tell anyone about this except Angel. After our jump into Rigel, Tolwyn plans to deal with the mutineers.

P.S. - I'm looking forward to your reply Lorien! Fly well, frag furballs, and get ready for the next series of missions!
 
Chris, you're completely right. Not only have I failed to remind fellow wingnuts of the exact location of the pictures, but I've not even posted a link to the YouTube videos in the replay threads. I've just begun with the upload of mission five, and the main area for the missions is http://youtube.com/davecaspermeyer

I should have some more pictures in the week 2 thread within the next few hours.
 
Woo! I finally got around to SO1. No real challenges in the first missions, I thought, besides luring the Ferrets into my rear turret's arc.

Pembroke 1:

There are rumours flying around the ship about the Kilrathi. It seems that Prince Thrakhath has survived K'Tithrak Mang but his defeat is causing a struggle to occur in the higher ranks of the Kilrathi. I'm sure Thrakhath will come out on top, he hasn't survived this long by being a dolt. There's some good news at least to soften the scuttlebutt, my promotion to Colonel has been confirmed and I'm being transferred to the Special Operations group. Apparently they have a reputation of achieving the impossible and the Admiral thought I'd fit right in. Quite the compliment. My suspicions that Paladin was up to something are confirmed when I find out that he's Chief Field Officer for them and I'll be taking orders from him. This promises to be fun.

Our briefing today starts with some great news. We've finally wrested control of the Enigma sector from the Kilrathi, the Kilrathi's only hope now is to focus on the Pembroke system, gateway been Enigma and Vega and try to stop our troop movements. Stingray and I are assigned a patrol to make sure they don't stand a chance. We're given new ships for this mission, the P-64D Super Ferret, basically the same as the non-super version but with two missiles. They certainly got a work-out on the patrol. We encountered 2 wings of Sartha, followed by a Kamekh escorted by the new stealth fighters, which have been dubbed Strakha. The Sartha aren't piloted by Drakhai this time around and go down easily and now that we know about the Stealth fighters we don't have any problems blowing up their fragile little hulls. I'm glad we didn't encounter anything heavier than a Kamekh, as the Ferret's guns wouldn't have been able to score a kill against a Ralatha. Angel seems suprised at our report of the enemy presence, but I don't think we have anything to worry about.

Pembroke 2:

I stop by to chat with Sparks on the maintenance deck as she tunes up a Super Ferret. She likes the way the colonel's insignia look on me and frankly, so do I. She relays word that the TCS Tsiolkovsky was lost at Rigel and hopes that I'll be on hand when the Concordia jumps in. I think the Concordia's a little toughter than a science ship, but Sparks probably fixes up more torpedo impacts than I do. She also asks me what my new command will be, but I have to dodge the question for Operation Security. In the pilot's barracks Stingray seems to have finally dropped his attitude about me, which is a refreshing change. It's good to have a chat with him, in some ways he reminds me of Maniac before the poor guy snapped. I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Stingray. The topic of my vacation comes up and I say that I'm heading to Earth. It's a good cover story given how busy Earth is.

It seems Stingray and I weren't the only ones to encounter enemy fighters during our patrol and Tactical thinks that the Kilrathi will have gotten word of our location. All our fighters will be up and patrolling the nav points, looking for any strike force that may be heading our way. We face a few Drakhri at Nav 1, which aren't much of a problem, but strike the big one at Nav 2. A wing of Grikaths and two Fralthra. Normally the odds wouldn't look to good but bomber versus light fighter never goes well for the bomber. We clear the Grikaths out and then brave the Cruisers' flak to continue our patrol. As soon as we return to base I let the Concordia know about our situation. Major Edmond seems shocked at such a heavy force and orders battle stations.

Pembroke 3:

I manage to catch Stingray after we land. He's a little rattled at finding such a heavy force, but it doesn't seem as worrying after what we got up to in the Tiger's Claw. I try to impart a little wisdom before we're called to the briefing room.

The briefing is quick and filled with little nonsense. The Concordia is going to engage the two Fralthra in order to protect Pembroke Station. It's a risky move, but we need Pembroke Station operating. Our sabres are to protect the Concordia during the battle and we have our work cut out for us as some new type of Kilrathi fighter attacks. It's big and looks quite heavy, with a lot of torpedoes. We can't let them get through and distract the Concordia from her mission. Fortunately, they still die when filled with Particle Cannon fire from behind so we make quick work of them and then withdraw to allow the Concordia to complete her mission. Watching the capital ships duke it out, I wish I had some torpedoes on board but the Concordia's Phase Transit Cannon works like a charm. The Admiral finishing up with a salvo of AMG fire into the last cruiser just to be sure.

On the trip to Pembroke station we encounter something I haven't encountered in a long time. Mines. Fortunately, nobody got close enough to set them off and we arrive at the station intact. Stingray and Doomsday peel off to attack the nearest bombers but my experience tells to protect the station. It's a good thing I did, too, as a Grikath was nearing the end of it's torpedo run. I take it out before it can cause any more damage before returning to help finish off the dogfight. I have to give Doomsday a lift home as he needed to eject.

Pembroke 4:

The mood is light as we play poker in the Barracks. Even Doomsday seems a little cheerfull. For Doomsday, anyway. I tell the guys that I'll be off on R&R as soon as we jump into the Rigel system. Hobbes plays along with the subterfuge, saying that he will be consulting with the Admiral before being assigned to Ghorah Khar. It makes sense to assign him there. Word is passed that three more Kilrathi planets are rebelling against the Empire. It seems that the Kilrathi are getting as tired of the slaughter as we are. Some of them, anyway.

The Concordia is jumping into the Rigel system as we've lost contact with the Supply Depot there as well as a number of Free Traders. Kind of like the Kilrathi would have encountered when the Concordia jumped into Enigma, so we're on our guard. I'll be jumping into the system first to check everything out. Angel will be my gunnery officer for this mission as we've lost a lot in the latest campaign without any replacements. I feel a lot safer now, Angel always was a crack shot. I told Stingray that nothing suprises me anyway, but when three Jalkehi jump me in a mine field I have to wonder what catnip they've been having. All the Jalkehi go down, but I take more damage doing it than I would have otherwise. I get another suprise in the Rigel system as several Ferrets approach me. They're not squawking the right IFF codes and I order weapons free. Angel must have been paying attention as she doesn't question my order. This dogfight's another situation that I hate, trying to chase down light fighters in a broadsword is slow going even with Angel in the turret. As the last Ferret crumples under my mass drivers I set a course back for the Concordia, deep in thought.

After I land, the Admiral calls me to the bridge. I relay my report about the enemy ferrets and the Admiral doesn't seem suprised. He informs me that there was a mutiny on the TCS Gettysburg near one of the rebelling Kilrathi planets, N'Tanya. They suspect that the Gettysburg has been the reason for the trouble in Rigel. I'm ordered to keep quiet about the mutiny.
 
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