Wing Commander IV: Ella System

Officer: Incoming holo-trans, Admiral.

Seether: Bad news, Admiral. There’s been a security breach.

Tolwyn: One very persistent Colonel, I would expect, hmm?

Seether: The same. Always a worthy adversary.

Tolwyn: “The Heart of the Tiger”: that’s what the Kilrathi called him. Where are you now?

Seether: Requesting permission to land, sir. Colonel Blair is undoubtedly back on his ship and preparing to pursue us.

Tolwyn: Well, the Colonel’s efforts are too little, too late. I have an appointment with the Assembly, and a long overdue promotion to accept. Let him try to catch us…

Dekker: Well? What’d you find?

Maverick: Tolwyn… it was him all along.

Dekker: Son of a… I knew it! You had him, too. You should have put a bullet in his head when you had the chance.

Pliers: Hey, Blair. You know that weird disk gismo I found on that ship? Well, I finally worked it out, though I still find it kinda hard to believe.

Maverick: At this point, Pliers, you’d do best to believe anything.

Pliers: Well, that baby packs a heck of a punch. You could take out a capital ship, or a building, maybe even an entire installation with that thing. And what’s really incredible, it does it from the inside out. Sounds crazy, don’t it?

Maverick: Not to me. I’ve seen them in action. They’re called “Flash-Paks”.

Pliers: Well, how’d…?

Maverick: How many do we have?

Pliers: Just the one, but I could rig up a few more in a week or so.

Maverick: There’s no time for that now.

Hawk: It’s called the Vesuvius. Its manoeuvrability and acceleration make us look like we’re standing still.

Maverick: Right. I saw it when it was under construction, but I just had no idea they could get it on-line this fast.

Panther: It’s set on the standard jump point route to the Sol system. A ship that large has no other option.

Maverick: But a ship our size has other options. Look. Now, we can take a shortcut through the Ella star system and squeeze through this smaller jump point–

Hawk: –which Tolwyn is never going to expect–

Panther: –because right in the middle of the system is a Confed super-base.

Maverick: Exactly. Of course, invading their airspace will attract attention.

Panther: And then some. Ella’s densely populated.

Hawk: So we launch a pre-emptive strike. Pliers told me about that disk.

Maverick: The Flash-Pak?

Panther: Thousands of civilians would be killed if you used that! The super-base isn’t isolated from the rest of the system.

Hawk: We have a chance to stop the war, to save millions of lives. We have to catch Tolwyn and stop him!

Panther: Agreed, but hitting them first? I say we make the super-base come after us.

Hawk: Do you have any idea what kind of force they can throw at us?

Panther: Look, it’s gonna be tough getting through, sure, but using the Flash-Pak, deliberately causing civilian casualties? That is morally wrong!

Maverick: <sigh> Look, the Flash-Pak is off-limits. We’ll try to outrun them.

Maverick: Look, we have to get through. We’ll use the Flash-Pak.

Panther: I think that it is despicable behaviour that you would even talk about it…

Hawk: Civilian casualties are acceptable…

Maverick: All right, people.

Panther: No, they’re not!

Maverick: That’s enough! Now, this is going to be the hardest mission we’ve ever undertaken. We’re going to escort the Intrepid to this jump point. That means trying to slip past the Ella super-base. Now, if they come after us – and I can’t think of a reason why they wouldn’t – it’s going to take everything we’ve got to defeat them. Now, our only other chance is to cause civilian casualties and that’s, well, that’s unacceptable. Now, we can do this people, and maybe we’ll just stop a war in the process. All right, let’s go.

Panther: It disgusts me that you would even make such a suggestion!

Hawk: It’s part of warfare!

Panther: No, it’s not!

Maverick: That’s enough!

Panther: Not when innocent people…

Maverick: Now, we’re going to do something that isn’t much to our taste, but it’s our only chance to stop a war that could cost millions of lives. Now, we’ve got to escort the Intrepid through the Ella system to this jump point. Most of you will cover our ship, and, with that diversion, my wingman and I will head down to the super-base. I’ll carry the Flash-Pak. If we do this right, we could get our shot at Admiral Tolwyn. All right, let’s move.

Hawk: Good.

Sosa: You’re cleared, sir – and hurry: we’re going through the jump point in under a minute…

Sosa: Mayday! Mayday! Situation critical! We require assistance! <static>

Maverick: Just take it nice and steady. We’re gaining on them.

Officer: Admiral! I don’t know where it came from, but the Intrepid is closing.

Tolwyn: All right, Colonel, let’s make this interesting. Full 180!

Helmsman: Sir, we’re 15 seconds to the Sol jump point.

Tolwyn: Perhaps you didn’t hear me, helmsman. 180 now!

Helmsman: Yes, sir. Aborting jump.

Tolwyn: When you have a junkyard dog snapping at your heels, the best thing to do is to turn around and kick it in the chops.

Sosa: I don’t believe it! He’s right at the jump point and he’s turning around!

Maverick: Battle stations! Scramble everybody! All pilots up now!

Tolwyn: Come on. Come on.

Sosa: Sir, the situation is really desperate here, we need your presence on-board – you’re clear to land. Look, our sensors are detecting the presence of another ship… <static>

Sosa: Mayday! Mayday! Situation critical! We require assistance! <static>

Eisen: <laughs> Good to see you, Colonel.

Maverick: <chuckles> Well, very good to see you, Captain.

Eisen: Heck of a communications rig, huh? Well, we don’t have time for me to fill you in on everything. So, for now let’s just say that I still have a few friends at Confed HQ. The ship I’m in is the twin to the Vesuvius, and even these things have a few soft spots. Now, I’m going to dump a whole lot of data on your comm officer: blueprints, IFF codes, the works. As you can see, certain areas of her flanks are somewhat vulnerable. Now, once these turrets are taken out… well, we’ll see if we can even up the fight a little.

Maverick: Yes we will, sir. Let’s go!

Sosa: Great, sir. Captain Eisen has ordered St Helens and Intrepid through the jump point. Proud to say, you’re cleared to land.

Sosa: Mayday! Mayday! Situation critical! We require assistance! <static>