Save the Station

The crew of the Midway is working hard to clear the bugs out of H'hrass this week. The next two weeks will revolve around the alternate mission branching in T'lan Meth. Lorien filed the following mission report, and Dave's uploaded dozens of new pictures.

G'Wriss 3: I find Zero in quiet contemplation of his drink. I don't think he's going to be able to fly well if he broods for too long so I go to break him out of it. He asks me what it was like having the Iceman as a father. I give him the honest truth, he died when I was very young and I never got to know the man. I just have his shadow haunting everything I do in the cockpit. Zero thinks that I'm better off that way. His father was alive, but didn't have time to spend with Zero, instead spending it studying the Kilrathi to help out our war effort. When he did have time, there wasn't much he could talk about. I ask him about the Kn'Thrak that everyone's been talking about. He replies that his memories are a little vague and include a Terran biblical text for some reason. He also remembers being so scared he had to sleep with the lights on. At least his memories give us a good name for the enemy, the Nephilem. I leave the conversation feeling that we've grown a little closer.

Even with it's destroyer escort destroyed the enemy cruiser is still bearing down on us at top speed. Hawk will be flying fighter cover while my wing escorts the Shrikes in an attack to take the cruiser out. The briefing ends with the somber not that we may be up against a force that took out an entire Kilrathi fleet. It doesn't seem to have affected Dallas too much, he's happier than I've ever seen him as we promise to back each other up. Given the proximity of the enemy to the Midway, I'm piloting a Wasp in this mission. Seeing more of those cruiser vessels, I'm glad to have it's heavier guns and missiles. I start off the attack by breaking up a bomber cluster before they can get too close to the midway and move on to attacking enemy fighters until the bombers start reporting trouble with turret fire.

I then break off the engagement and clear out the shield emitters protecting the cruiser's vital components and get to work on it's turrets, using the Cruisers own hull as a shield against it's guns. First to go are the missile turrets, obviously, followed by a ring of turrets near the engine. I'm halway through the turrets on the arms when I hear Dallas scream over the radio. Damn, I should have kept a closer eye on him. Filled with rage, I quickly finish off the rest of the turrets and the remaining enemy fighters, leaving me to sit and stew as the bombers finish off the de-fanged cruiser. The last bombers launched by the cruiser receive a very hostile reaction when they appear, both of the clusters and one of the little component ships receiving the full power of a swarmer missile, demolishing them. Anderson congratulates us on a job well done before I head in to land.

Making the Games: Copernicus and Friends Artwork

There's always been something unusually detailed about the ships which appear in Wing Commander Prophecy's intro -- like they were meant for some greater purpose and then tragically never used again. Today we have two versions of the same pod rendering and an early yellow textured version of the Copernicus-class TCS Devereaux.

Thanks to Captain Johnny for both archiving and providing this material!