Niven 3
General Snell wants me to escort two transports from Niven Colony to the jump point. Sounds easy enough...oh...I'm going alone in a Ferret? Great.
I'm hardly off the deck when four Sartha come barreling in. The high refire rate of the MD's makes the difference here. I lay down a barrage and take two down extremely fast before roll behind a third. He gets it after about five seconds. The fourth Sartha is of course nailing one of the transports with everything its got. Little bastard. I afterburn over to him and send a hail of silver mass driver rounds directly into his cockpit. How's it feel to suck void kitty?
We quickly autopilot into...Drakhri. Great. I afterburn to the flank of the group and take out one quickly. Coming up behind the other two I send a long burst into the second, however the third has gotten on my six and started to open fire. I can tell because my cockpit is starting to look like the Fourth of July. Not good.
I pull up on the stick, roll right, afterburn slide and jockey to get position on the final drakhri. Head-to-Head. Not the wisest decision. Needless to say I played this mission more than once. Not many times but more than once.
One transport is shot to hell and the other isn't going to win any awards for looks. At least they made it.
Dunn Dunn Dunn...no not me...Traitor subplot...going on now. Speaking of let's go fly a mission...
Niven 4
All alone in a Ferret again. Simple scout mission. Sure.
According to the WC1&2 USG Blair muttered "Good Grief," upon seeing the Strakhas again. Who the hell is he Charlie Brown? Anyways, I've got three Strakha flying around. The only thing Strakha having going for them is that they can cloak otherwise they are just flying marks ready to be added to my kill score. (The WC3 Strakha is even worse in this department) I make my way through the three stealths easily and move on to the next nav point.
I don't encounter anything else until between Nav 2 and 3. More Strakha. I have to play hide and seek more with these three then the first but the outcome is still the same.
So while a new traitor subplot is open, Blair's is now closed with evidence from his...oh son of a....! Damn it! Stolen. Stringray still thinks I'm the greatest...asshole he's ever met.
We all know about the special properties of the Enigma Sector and how much holds in the balance with our holding the line here.
Ghorah Khar 1
Angel wants Hobbes and I to fly a simple patrol. The start of a beautiful betrayal...and continues the traitor spree to...well you know. At least we are flying Rapiers. On a side note, I remember back in '94-'95 when I started to really get into WC, I got stuck on this damn mission for what seemed like the longest time. Kur and his buddies just kept nailing me. Now it's a piece of cake compared to what SO, UE and Standoff throw at you, but still amazingly fun as well.
Hobbes tells me I'm not a bad guy. I guess that's our luck, a Kilrathi thinks I'm alright but not the famous Tolwyn...sheesh.
Nav 1 has three Jalkehi waiting for my attention. These big bastards can be a problem, but I just try to stay out of head to head attacks and stick to the sides whenever possible. This fight doesn't last too long before the autolight comes to life...
Nav 2 has Kur and his buddies. You aren't going to stop me this time you bastard. Grikath can be deadly with that rear turret so you've got to watch out. I like to use missiles on anything carrying torpedoes so I expend them here. I save Kur for last. I have a smug satisfaction from blasting him away. On to the next nav point and mission....
Ghorah Khar 2
Time to escort the Bonnie Heather and Paladin back to the Concordia. Again Hobbes and I are in Rapiers. We have to take the long way to throw off the Kilrathi. Before Nav 1 we encounter three Drakhri. Hobbes and I take little time in destroying them as the Rapiers are far superior spaceframes.
In between nav points we encounter six Jalkehi in two wings. Now this was a fight. I use my missiles quickly to try and lower the odds. Two Jalkhei explode under missile and gun barrage. Four to two. I come up behind another Jalkhei and launch a DF and some particle cannon rounds into the top of his ship. It explodes it a beautiful blast as I swing around to get his buddies.
When the fight is over, Paladin is a bit worse for wear but he'll make it back to the Concordia no problem.
The interlude has Paladin and I exchanging kind words before Tolwyn and Paladin meet. Paladin tries to convince Tolwyn, but I've got to prove it to the old man.
Ghorah Khar 3
A mission of consequence...when it turns from an intercept strike force to ...scramble! Five Sartha are attacking the Concordia when Hobbes and I launch in Rapiers. They can't hurt the Concordia so I have little to worry about from that end. Hobbes and I make quick work of them before heading off to meet the Broadswords we're supposed to escort.
We successfully find the broadswords and move onto the attack phase of our mission. Four Grikath and a Kamekh are the strike force. Broadswords carrying torps is a bit of overkill but I have no problem taking out torpedo bombers and ship killing corvettes. I head after the Grikath first and quickly down two. I'm saving my missiles for the corvette though. However, before I can do that Hobbes and the two broadswords bring it down. I use my remaining missiles on the Grikath and we head for Olympus Station.
I've always liked the look of WC1-2 Terran stations. Eder's Standoff model is another gorgeous interpretation of the model. Moving on...
Everybody feels bad that I'm the ugly duckling in Tolwyn's eyes. It's all right though. Soon enough...
Ghorah Kar 4
Scramble. Defend Olympus Station. We've got 5 Drakhri upon launch. Flying Rapiers they aren't too much of a challenge. One is particularly difficult to kill, but I manage to land a missile and he goes up like a litterbox.
Four Jalkehi arrive after the first are destroyed. I'm a bit banged up from the first encouter. I use my missiles liberally and manage two quick kills before it turns into an old fashion furball. Turn after turn until I land enough hits to send the kilrathi bastard to Sivar.
After we head back to the Concordia for debriefing....