Speaking of which, I just played it again, but for fun I F12-ed my wingmen. Bradshaw says something about aborting the mission and heading home, but I continue to the Ralatha and the Snakeir and notice that the majority of the cats really don't want to fight.
Most of them just fly towards the cap ships and then turn away - repeating the process several times. Only one in a dozen decides to attack me and the rest fly slowly making them mince meat in my guns. We're talking about over 100 cats killed in this mission - I think more than Blair might have handled in a single sortie... I should get promoted already. Thrakath has a wanted sign out with my face on it and an entire system as the reward.
Even after I've attacked a Kilrathi pilot, he seems uninterested and if I let him live he'll just fly the same route, never trying to return fire. The ace pilot is the only one who really makes an effort to follow me.
Very strange stuff guys