So you don't want to defect? What happens if you say no twice...
Wayne Howard
You're a very clever person, Mr. Lambert. I enjoyed your "7th disk" post!
thank you! LOL!!!! :)
best, Wayne Howard
Wayne Howard
Craig Lambert
after being asked twice? The apocryphal answer is below, in reality
as virtually true as can be imagined. The legendary "7th CD" carried
out this path: perhaps someone somewhere lucky enough to have this
rare disk can upload it to the net for your retrieval: I saw it once
on talk.bermuda.triangle, but my connection went down after I’d gotten
only 457 meg of the file.
Of course you must hunt down Eisen and the Intrepid. Having escaped
you in Silenos, the Lexington follows the Intrepid through the
jumppoint into Orestes. You must fight past Hawk and Panther, each of
whom challenges you, the "Heart of the Tiger" over the comm, then as
you approach the Intrepid Maniac switches sides again, helping you
and Seether destroy the Intrepid as Eisen broadcasts desperate pleas
for assistance. Back on the Intrepid, Paulsen congratulates you with
all his special charm, and remarks it looks like you’ll soon have the
chance to finish with an old foe. Seether, meanwhile gives Maniac a
thumping, coldly mocking a cringing Maniac for his cowardice. He
tells Paulsen not to punish Maniac for his initial defection: "He’ll
be more useful out there as a target for the Border Worlds scum to
waste their shots on" Afterwards a chastened, battered and bleeding
Maniac tells you that as soon as he’d landed on the Intrepid with
Eisen he realized he’d made a huge mistake. "The captain was dead,
most of the crew was breathing vacuum, the ship was a total wreck. No
way the Maniac wasn’t gonna bail that flying scrap yard first chance!"
Your next mission brief is to fly against the Kilrathi base in
Pasqual: this time you get to hear Melek bitterly denounces you for
your treachery and inconstancy as you toast him and his furry comrades
inside their exploding base, which was defended by a mix of Kilrathi
Dralthi and BW fighters. Admiral Tolwyn comes aboard the Lexington,
bringing you reinforcements in the form of the new Dragon fighters,
and he praises you for your destruction of Eisen and Melek and urges
you to work closely with Seether, saying ‘unimaginable’ rewards are
available for loyal service. Its a bit unclear if he means service to
Confed, or to him personally. He cuts short your qualms about flying
in unmarked fighters (the Dragons): clearly you have blown it once
again with the prickly Admiral, who tells you to "wise up, Colonel,
you only get so many chances to play for the winning team"
Next you fly in the Telamon system, defending the jumppoints from
incoming BW forces as planet FT-957 is dusted with the Gen-Select
weapon. From now on, all your missions will include an offer from BW
forces for you to defect, doing so (after killing Seether & any other
wingmen) will go to the losing endgame described below.
You land amidst a scene of chaos and carnage, burning and bodies and
wrecked equipment. A harried woman identifying herself as Lt. Sosa
greets you. "We could have used your help, Colonel…when it would have
made a difference"
"The things I’ve seen…" you reply, "I have to stop those bastards!
They don’t care who they kill!"
"It’s too late," Sosa replies, "We just sent out our surrender.
There’s no-one left to fight for."
There is a brief trial scene. You are shown nobly defending the
values of freedom and the strength of the human spirit from the stand,
vowing to "fight on until simple decency and the true honor of the
warrior prevail." The final scene shows your corpse, entangled in
barbed wire, dusty swirls of wind tugging at your hair as bored guards
are heard discussing your fate, only their jackboots and the muzzles
of their rifles visible. "Another worthless mutt trying to break
out…saves us the trouble of feeding his useless mouth." "A flyer from
the looks of those clothes." "Die in the sky, die in the dirt," the
first guard replies, "the weak have to be taught their place sooner or
later."
However, its still possible to win on this path. Tolwyn arrives with
the Vesuvius, announcing that the main BW fleet has been run to
ground, and you will lead the assault on Admiral Wilford’s "pathetic"
force of criminal insurgents. Its clear though that the Admiral
favors Seether over you, and you understand that Seether’s job is to
see that you carry out Tolwyn’s orders to the letter. First you must
open a jumppoint, destroying 3 cap ships and some 24 fighters in 6
waves. The next mission sees you through into Circe for the climatic
battle, destroying the assembled BW cruisers and carriers: you fly
with a loadout including two flashpaks. After the battle is won,
with the surviving BW forces surrendering, Seether orders you to
destroy two fleeing transports, one of which has Sosa pleading for
mercy over the comm, the other transport has Pliers cursing and
reviling you. "Heart of the Tiger," he sneers, "at least the damn
Pussys bothered to eat what they killed" Maniac goes crazy and
begins firing wildly at all around him, and Seether quickly flames his
ship, then deliberately blasts Maniac’s escape pod, laughing and
telling you he’ll do the same to you if you don’t follow his orders.
Its possible to fight Seether at this point, and even kill him, but
endless waves of fighters launch from the Vesuvius until you die, or
eject, in which case you get an abbreviated version of the losing
scenes. Should you go ahead and destroy the refugee transports,
however, you go to this path’s winning ending.
A guard is reporting to you, "Commandant Blair, Re-education Camp 34
detainee Transport reporting as ordered, sir. 200 prisoners died in
transit, 75 prisoners are too sick to work and require "special"
treatment." "Acknowledged" you reply, signing off on a proffered
form. You watch the two files of dejected, slumping prisoners in torn
and filthy clothing slowly shuffle through the gates of your camp.
You see some faces…is that Rollins? Could that emaciated woman with
the hacking cough be Rachel? Fadeout.
Oh well. At least it beats blowing up planets-full of sentient
beings.
Craig A. Lambert
All rights reserved, revered, and redundant.