I didn't have any troubles this week, most of the missions I landed without a scratch. It was still a tough week, though. I still find myself a little sniffly after Heaven's Gate 4
Heaven's Gate 3:
The chatter around the poker table revolves around the upcoming assault on Heaven's Gate. Scuttlebutt says that it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible. Jazz is confident about his abilities, though, and I wouldn't mind a crack at it either. I thank Jazz for the assist yesterday and after a little kill-board bickering he says that he'd just finished off a Kilrathi carrier and it's Sartha escorts before coming to assist. A carrier? In an Epee? I find that a little hard to belive.
Spirit isn't feeling well today, so I'm flying today's mission alone. Apparently, the Kilrathi have heard of our plans to take the Heaven's Gate starbase and have brought in heavy re-inforcements. This means that all we can do is destroy the starbase and get out of here. I'm to rendezvous with a supply transport carrying missiles for the upcoming assault. To re-inforce our need for missiles, my Epee isn't loaded with any. I follow the route to the Agincourt and run into a sight only I would find familiar. Kilrathi Stealth Fighters. Fortunately, they're just as fragile as before and blow up even faster under the Epee's particle guns. I take out 7 of them without a single scratch on my paint on the way to the Agincourt. As I admire the lines of the Waterloo-class cruiser a glitch in my flight recorder stops me from receiving the updated Nav Data. I shut it down and head back to the Concordia with the Mama's Boy in tow, dreaming of vindication. My dreams are shattered, though, when I find that shutting down the flight recorder has erased it's data and Angel doesn't believe me. I think half of my anger was at myself for not transferring the proof at the first opportunity, but all of it come out at Angel.
Heaven's Gate 4:
I stalk the hangar deck to clear my head. There's something about the deck operations that soothes a pilot's soul. Spark's is also part of that, I think. Her frank attitude towards me really helps me keep a level head. She also passes word that Spirit is on the O-Deck. On the O-Deck, I find the impossible has happened. Spirit's fiance, Phillip, in alive and on the Heaven's Gate starbase. The traitor was trying to use the knowledge to turn Spirit but by staying true to the Confederation she's betrayed her fiance. I want her to take this to Angel or Tolwyn, but she refuses, saying that she'll deal with it in her own way.
Spirit is delivered a blow a today's meeting. Apparently, the traitor has leaked word to the Mandarins about our attack and there is a large strike fleet moving towards the Concordia. Most of our fighters will be tasked with attacking that fleet which leaves Spirit and I to attack the Heaven's Gate starbase. I try to speak up, Spirit shouldn't be asked to deliver the torpedoes that will kill her fiance, but Spirit keeps me quiet. We're in Sabres for this mission. It feels like the Rapier did back in the old days. A hot fighter with plenty of firepower, torpedoes and a rear turret. It was certainly enough to deal with Rakti BloodDrinker. Spirit and I are heading towards the base when disaster strikes. Something blows up in the rear of her fighter, killing her gunner. I try to get her to return to base but she won't listen. Saying that she'll wait for me in heaven, Spirit rams her Sabre into the starbase killiing it, herself and her fiance all at the same time. I'm not sure if it was grief or rage driving me as the base's defending fighters tried to take me out, but they didn't stand a chance. I return but can't bring myself to leave the repair deck. Again, Sparks helps straighten me out. She also send me to see Angel, who is probably even more sad than I am. She's correct, Angel is focusing herself on everything she's lost to the war, I remind her that she's still got some things left and we kiss. I'm not sure at the moment if bringing our relationship back to life is the best idea but it's just what happened. We certainly need each other's strength to get through Spirit's funeral.
Tesla 1:
Two weeks later, the Concordia jumps into the Tesla system. The time has just flown by and Sparks comments that she hasn't seen me much lately. I'm really coming to appreciate her no-nonsense approach to the situation as she checks to make sure the thing with Angel is for the right reasons and re-assures me about my importance to the Concodia. After all, Tolwyn hasn't sent me home yet.
Today's mission promises to be an exciting one. There's a Kilrathi listening post in the system and we're to take it out using the single torpedo on an Epee. Delivering a torpedo run in the fragile Epee will be a challenge, but I'm up for it. No, wait, that's someone elses mission. Instead I get to patrol the system with Stingray. Yay. We set off in our Rapiers to find some Jalkehi in the asteroids, I still don't like dogfighting in asteroids but the Jalkehi like it even less. Nav 2 contains a suprise, a Free Trader being bombed by Grikath. Stingray engages one as I swoop in on another in the middle of a torpedo run. My shots arrive just as the torpedo drops off it's mount and detonate it, taking the Grikath with it. Stingray and I double-team the remaining Grikath with Stingray claiming the kill. The Free Trader turns out to be Paladin's Bonnie Heather and we escort it back to the Concordia. No doubt something big is happening. Angel seems distracted as well, keeping herself busy in her work.
Tesla 2:
Paladin joins Downtown, Hobbes and I for a poker game. I'm suprised at how well he and Hobbes get on, with Hobbes poking fun at Paladin's tale-telling. It seems that Hobbes saved Paladin's life back on Ghorah Khar, which sounds like an interesting tale to hear. I express my worries about Angel to Paladin but he reassures me that she's a good girl and that those who know me know that I'm not using her to get ahead. Lord knows it would a futile gesture with Admiral Tolwyn on board.
I receive a blast from the past today, with Stingray and I called to an emergency launch. Two troop transports have strayed from their convoy and it's our job to take them out before they can get back under protection. Stingray is certainly very keen, no doubt motivated to take out the thousand Kilrathi marines per transport. The wing of Sartha between us the transports barely slow us down and we're working our way through their Jalkehi escorts when Jazz uses afterburners at the wrong time and slams into a cat fighter. Luckily, he managed to eject before his ship detonated. With no cover, the two transports are quickly taken down along with a third one that jumped in mid-fight. Knews the Stingray needed the SAR seems to have shaken Angel, she expresses worry that the mission was too difficult and that every time she sends me out, she is sending me out to die. I hope she doesn't go back into the "never existed" frame of mind.
Tesla 3:
I have an eye-opening chat with Stingray on the flight deck about Hobbes. Apparently, Hobbes supplied likely Kilrathi attack strategies to use during the battle for Ghorah Khar. Without that information, we may not have been able to save the station. I can understand the Admiral's opinion of him now a lot better. Hobbes has also proven to be a reliable and capable wingman.
Paladin needs an escort outsystem and, being the gentlemen that we are, Stingray and I offer to give him an escort. Same Drakhri try to stop us but they offer little resistance. After the Bonnie Heather jumps the Concordia contacts us with urgent news. The jump traces that we were to investigate after the Bonnie Heather jumped were the jump traces of two Fralthra bearing down on us. Stingray and I are sent to sweep some of their escorting fighters away. I get a little thrill when the targeting computer identifies one of the Jalkehi escorts as belonging to a member of the Kilrathi Royal Family, Khasra. The last two times we tangoed with the Kilrathi Royal family were Operation Thor's Hammer and the missions in the Firekka system. Both were target-rich environments to say the last. Khasra is a good pilot and his ship seems tougher than the usual Jalkehi but he still falls to my guns. Stingray bugs out after taking one too many hits, leaving me clear out the rest of the escorts. The Broadswords should have an easy time of it when they hit the Fralthra.
Telsa 4:
The O-deck is buzzing with news about the Kilrathi carriers in the system. Jazz's analogy is pretty lame, I have to agree with Downtown but being up against all these heavy fighters certainly isn't good news. Yes, we went up against worst odds in the Firekka mission but there were some hairy moments there that I'd rather not face again. Jazz's warning is a little unusual. Of all the pilots there, I'm the only one who participated for the duration of the Firekka engagement.
Today's normal patrol are interrupted by a Kilrathi strike fleet moving in on the Concordia. Stingray and I are to take out their advance fighters and then escort the William Tell in a strike on the Kilrathi flagship, a Ralatha. By the time we're in the air, the Grikaths are already swarming. I find that the key to taking out the Grikaths is to wait for them to start their torpedo runs as it makes targetting easier. None of the Grikaths I'm attacking managed to fire a torpedo off but when the battle clears the Concordia has still taken a hit. We escort the William Tell to the Ralatha and being clearing out her Jalkehi escort. Stingray gets a little to close to the Ralatha has to eject. Once the fighters are cleared I make attack runs on the Ralatha hoping to distract it's fire away from the William Tell. It's a close battle, but in the end a salvo from the Tell's forward guns finishes off the Kilrathi capital ship. I escort the Tell back to the Concordia and am instructed to land quickly. The William Tell will be jumping out of the system shortly to try and draw Kilrathi fire. I wish them the best of luck, I know they took some hard hits during the battle.