EA Civil War campaign Mission 15 : The Kapteya Passage ---------------------------------- Briefing: ---------- Command Briefing: ( hold by Ryan ) Let me give you a status update on the war. The colonies at Proxima 3 and Orion 7 are under heavy siege. Clark has sent his troops to all other outposts and colonies to prevent them from seceiding as well. To track down possible defectors he is deploying probes and patrols all along EA borders. We have to open routes for other defectors and civilians so they can escape to neutral space. (b15.1) Mission Briefing: Trainor : Have a seat, pilots. This is the EAS HERMES, an Omega class destroyer patrolling the outskirts of EA territory. The HERMES comes directly from Altair station where the ship loaded a set of probes. These are to be deployed in the Kapteya-System. These probes can detect any EA vessel that tries to leave EA space within 9 light years. If these probes get detached no one will make it to League space unseen. (b15.2) HALE : The Hermes ! (b15.3) Trainor : Yes, Danny. This time the HERMES is not your carrier, but your mission objective. General Snyder is on board. (b15.4) HALE : *a little terrified* Oh.... (b15.5) Trainor : We don't need to destroy the HERMES, we have to destroy the probes she is dispatching. But we have to drive her off. (b15.6) HALE : What about simple screamers ? Can't we jam the probes' frequencies ? (b15.7) Trainor : These probes have terrawatt-uplink. They can use hyperspace beacons as carrier signals. We could disturb them a little , but there is no way to silence them except shooting them into bits. (b15.8) Shadow : Especially tachyon transmissions cannot be easily triangulated. When they are deep in normal space it is almost impossible to track them down. Fighters cannot follow them without getting to far away from the jumpgate and capital ships are not fast and maneuverable enough to keep pace. (b15.9) Geeezer : Like a mosquito in a big dark room. You know it's there, you hear it but you can't find it. (b15.10) Trainor : Right, we must intercept the probes and "convince" the Hermes to abort its mission. Dan, you are leading Alpha wing. Shadow will lead Beta wing. We cannot waste any time . You have to get to Kapteya ASAP to destroy all probes the HERMES launches. The Alexander will hurry to assist, but in the first minutes you have to come along without us. (b15.11) Hale : I flew with those men! And I know the pilots of the Hermes! This is the first time I have to go against friends ! Ah damnit! (b15.12) Shadow : Can you handle it, Danny ? (b15.13) Hale : We stormed the castle at the Shattered Star, we survived the attack of Eris, and we prevailed against Raiders, Centauri, Narns and... Is there no other way than engaging them in combat ? Not the Hermes ! (b15.14) Ryan : Welcome to my world, Lt.Cmdr. (b15.15) Hale : I see. Shit. You know, General Snyder is a fighter. He always gets the job done no matter the cost, and he does not give up easily. This mission can get really ugly. (b15.16) Ryan : If you want to, Cmdr Jones can... (b15.17) Hale : No. It's alright. I stand where I stand. I just wish I had never lived to see this day. This one and.... well.. this one and a few others. (b15.18) Trainor : Alright.Get to your fighters, pilots, you launch in a minute. (b15.19) The Mission: ---------------- Setting: - Kapteya jump gate - EAS Alexander ( Omega ) - Alpha wing ( 4 t-bolts : you , Geezer(INV), Spawn(inv) , unknown pilot ) - Beta wing ( 4 t-bolts : Shadow(INV) , Balrok(INV) , 2 unknown pilots ) - Gamma wing ( 4 starfuries , ? waves ) (STB) - EAS HERMES ( Omega ) - Kappa wing ( 4 t-bolts , 3 waves ) - Iota wing ( 4 starfuries , 3 waves ) - Sigma wing ( 4 starfuries , 3 waves ) - Comm-Probe group Hubble ( 3 probe-sats ) - Comm-Probe group Gallilei ( 3 probe-sats ) - Comm-Probe group Archimedes ( 3 probe-sats ) - Comm-Probe group undeployed ( 12 probe-sats ) -- convoy : - EA freighter "Tolwyn" - EA freighter "Lars" - EA skylark "Marshall" - EA fuel tanker "Blair" - EAS Claw ( Olympus corvette ) -- The mission starts. Alpha and Beta wings are at the jumpgate. The Poseidon is a few -- kilometers away. (STB) Check Mission15.jpg for a more detailed description of the -- setting. 9 Comm Sats have already been deployed and are heading into deep space. As soon -- as they reach their destinations they vanish and count as "escaped into open space" -- which means you loose the mission. You have to destroy all 9 sats before they reach -- their destinations. The location of these destinations is (STB) . We can play with -- the values so the player has to intercept the groups in a specific order. If you do it -- in the wrong order you don't manage to catch them all. Except probe group Archimedes -- the other 2 probe groups vanish relatively fast. But if you take on them first you -- will not have enough time to go for Archimedes at last. The solution will be to take -- Either Hubble or Gallilei and to order your wingmen from Alpha wing to intercept the -- other group. Then you take down Archimedes as second and last target. Got it ? :) -- Iota wing is also launched and near The Poseidon. -- So again : Mission starts with Alpha, Beta, Poseidon, Iota, and Hubble, Gallilei and -- archimedes. Shadow : There is the HERMES! We are a little late. Take out the probes first, then disarm the Omega and take care of the enemy fighters. (15.1) HERMES : This is General Maxwell Snyder from the Earth Alliance destroyer HERMES to enemy fighter wing. Leave this sector at once or we will be forced to attack you. (15.2) HALE : Hale to all fighters : Don't reply. Stay on target! Let's try to minimize losses on both sides! (15.3) HERMES : This is your last warning. Leave this sector at once ! (15.4) -- Hermes launches all remaining wings. Note that Kappa wing with its t-bolts fights -- against Beta wing , so Alpha wing can outrun the starfuries and finish the job with the -- CommSats. HERMES : You made your choice, pilots. (15.5) Shadow : We have incoming ! Hold it up, the Alexander should arrive soon. (15.6) -- When probe group Hubble is destroyed : -- Geezer : Probe group Hubble is down ! (15.7) -- When probe group Gallilei is destroyed : -- Geezer : Probe group Gallilei has been eliminated ! (15.8) -- When probe group Archimedes is destroyed : -- Geezer : Probe group Archimedes destroyed ! (15.9) -- If only one probe makes it to its destination : -- Spawn : Damn it! I have lost contact! A probe has escaped ! I repeat : A probe has -- escaped ! (15.10) -- Trainor : Abort mission ! Alpha, Beta, pull back ! Move it to the jumpgate , we will -- pick you up in hyperspace ! (15.11) -- Geezer : God damnit ! We should have taken on all groups simultaneously and not one -- by one ! (15.12) -- Trainor : Well, that's bad but perhaps we can find another passage to neutral space. -- That was bad luck. Back to hyperspace people ! (15.13) -- The mission is a failure. Alpha and Beta head for jumpgate and jump out. You should too. -- When all 3 probe groups are destroyed : Shadow : Excellent work, Alpha! All probes destroyed. (15.14) -- After a while Balrok : Damn it , where's the Alexander ?? (15.15) HERMES : This is the Earth Alliance Destroyer HERMES to all loyal EA vessels in the Kapteya system. We are under attack by renegade Earthforce fighters. Please respond. (15.16) Geezer : Are there any nearby EA ships ? What if the cavalry arrives ? (15.17) Shadow : No. Don't worry. The Alexander should arrive soon. (15.18) -- After some time (STB) the Alexander jumps in and attacks the HERMES. When the HERMES -- is low on health : Ryan : Earth Alliance Destroyer HERMES, your ship is heavily damaged. Surrender now. If you surrender we will let you fly home, but not before you dropped all remaining probes. (15.19) -- After a few seconds the HERMES and remaning fighters turns IFF friendly. HERMES : Understood Alexander. We are surrendering. Dropping remaining probes now. (15.20) Ryan : Roger. Hold position till we scanned your ship. (15.21) -- The HERMES launches all UNDEPLOYED commprobes which stay near the HERMES and don't -- fly around. Their destruction is just a formality. When they are all destroyed.... Ryan : Cmdr Hale, make a scan of the HERMES to confirm she doesn't hold any more commprobes. (15.22) HERMES : Hale ? Lt.Cmdr Dan Hale ? Alpha 1, please respond. (15.23) HALE : I am here, General. (15.24) HERMES : I don't believe it! We heard you were killed when the president... and now you are here with the defectors ? (15.25) HALE : That is no surprise to your superiors, sir. (15.26) HERMES : I wouldn't have expected you to fall from duty. I thought you would have what it takes to get the job done. The chain of command is there for a very good reason, but nowadays everyone seems to believe that he himself knows what's best for mankind.(15.27) HALE : I think you made your choice, sir. As well as I did mine. Goodbye, general. (15.28) HERMES : This is not over yet, COMMANDER. You betrayed Earthforce, and you betrayed me. You just don't turn your weapons against your own government. When this is all over, you will be trialed for what you did today! (15.29) GEEZER : Danny, I think I'm glad I DIDN'T join the Altair campaign. Snyder would now be mad with me either. If you need counseling, you can call me anytime. (15.30) -- When scan is complete the mission is a success. Ryan : Excellent work, Commander. All fighters, return to base. (15.31) -- Mission ends when approaching Alexanders fighter bay. -- HERMES jumps out, later the EA convoy jumps in. Spawn : Jumppoint forming ! Looks like a convoy's coming through ! (15.31) -- Begin cutscene Ryan : EAS Alexander to convoy, please respond. (15.32) CLAW : Captain Howard from EAS Claw hailing the Alexander. Do you copy ? (15.33) Ryan : Major Ryan here. We hear you. (15.34) Claw : We are glad to find you ! We have been escorting these escapees out of EA territory, looks like we made it! Alexander, the last thing we heard of you was your fight at transfer point Io. We thought you were dead by now. (15.35) Ryan : We aren't. We fought at Babylon 5, and we are setting a course for narn space. What's your story, captain ? (15.36) Claw : We were in Mars orbit when Clark's forces started their attack. First, a carrier group popped out of hyperspace and ordered all ships to stand down and await inspection. Some civil liners ignored the order and tried to escape. We were close, so we were ordered to intercept. We hesitated, and that was enough to order us to stand down as well. They attacked US right away just for hesitating, so we decided to jump. (15.37) HALE : The new Earthforce officers are all way to trigger happy for my taste. (15.38) Claw : Yes, commander. At first we wanted to report back to Earthforce command and accuse the task force of violating the articles of war when we learned that we have already been put on the list of defectors. On our journey we came across these ships, most of them the escapees from Mars I mentioned. (15.39) Ryan : Quite a story, but you made it. This passage is open. Until Earthgov comes back with a new set of probes this is a safe passage for anyone who wants to leave EA space. (15.40) Claw : That's not all. We know of at least 1 other EA vessel willing to defect. 2 days ago we came across the Nova dreadnought "Shukov". Officially, the ship was just patrolling EA space for defectors. (15.41) Shadow : The Shukov ? That's my dad's ship ! (15.42) Claw : Unofficially, it is trying to lead escapees around other EA patrols. They hinted that Kapteya was only guarded by a lone Omega destroyer, and that we might get a chance to slip through here. You should try to contact the Shukov, we have information on its last whereabout. (15.43) Shadow : That's good news, Claw! We will definitely look into the matter. (15.44) -- end cutscene -- Geezer : Oh, I nearly forgot... Shadow, what's this Bremer incident you talked about ? (15.45) Shadow : 4 years ago I was flying with Piranha on a forward patrol. We had pinpointed the position of a Raider Base somewhere in neutral territory from where the Raiders have lauched several attacks against a nearby trade lane. (15.46) Shadow : During the fighting a civilian liner got caught in the crossfire. Piranha was anxious to hunt the Raiders down, and the Raiders were using the civilian liner as a shield on the way to the nearby jumpgate. (15.47) Shadow : The liner got damaged and 2 people died onboard. Our relationship was already not the best at that moment, and when Earthforce investigated the incident it was found out that without her "initiative" the Raiders would have escaped. To her those 2 dead people were unfortunate, but collateral damage always happens. (15.48) Shadow : I found this disgusting. Earthforce cleared her of all accusations, but just to satisfy the civilian press she was punished with a transfer to a very remote sector. In the end she blamed me for having drawn needless attention to this and for having distorted her career. (15.49) Shadow : I think she never really cared of those 2 people who died, she just saw her achievement, the destruction of 7 Raider fighters. Before she left she told me I would pay for this one day. However, she saw a lot of combat in this region of space, and became an EA top ace pilot. (15.50) Geezer : Looks as if she has not forgotten you. (15.51) Shadow : I didn't expect her to, Jimmy. (15.52) Debriefing : ( hold by Ryan ) --------------------------------------- (1) If the mission was a success Very well done. We have already received more reports of ships who managed to escape via the Kapteya passage. I am sure there are many grateful civilians who are now safe in League territory. The Alexander will now move on to Minbari space. Clark will have difficulties to seal off this border. There is a chance we find more Renegade ships who try to slip through there. (db15.1)