Wing Commander IV: Orestes System

Sosa: Come on! Ah, you see, sir? There it is, right there.

Eisen: Yes, Lieutenant, I see it.

Maverick: What do you see?

Eisen: There are holes in the data I confiscated from the Lexington.

Sosa: We’ve got no Confed transmission data for a specific 18-hour period.

Eisen: Before and after that time period, Confed undertook operations which seem to relate to the chemist and the lab we confiscated. But, without that comm data, we can’t make a firm connection.

Sosa: We’re missing carrier group trackings, fleet movements, assignment logs…

Maverick: More pieces to the puzzle.

Sosa: Oh, I’ve got it! There’s a Confed comm station right here in Orestes, orbiting the system’s outermost planet.

Maverick: Oh sure, most of Confed’s comm traffic must relay through there.

Eisen: Helm, set nav co-ordinates for Orestes IX.

Helmsman: Aye, aye, sir.

Eisen: We’re going on a scavenger hunt.

Sosa: Yes, sir!

Maverick: You look lost in your thoughts.

Panther: It’s never gonna end, is it?

Maverick: What?

Panther: I spent seven years fighting the Kilrathi. And then I thought it was all over… and Humanity was united, right? Now I’m taking aim on people who used to be allies.

Maverick: C’mon Colonel, we’re just pilots, we don’t get to choose the enemy. How did you become a flyer?

Panther: I ran away from home when I was still a teenager. Fell in with some privateers. About the only good thing to come out of it was learning to fly. Signed on with Confed when the Kilrathi moved in on my home system. How about you?

Maverick: Yeah, I… thought I could stay away… But it’s all I know how to do.

Panther: We are smart people. We should be able to think of something better to do than all this killing.

Maverick: There’s time. This isn’t gonna last for ever.

Panther: So you believe that the good will win?

Maverick: I have to.

Maverick: Get used to it Colonel… there’s a lot more killing to come before we make things right.

Eisen: I’m afraid we have to postpone our plans for a comm station at Orestes IX. We’ve just received a distress signal from a Border Worlds convoy. It appears that they ran afoul of Confed’s interdiction edict – and it now appears that Confed has entered into the Border Worlds to pursue them with a frigate and a destroyer. Proceed with all due haste, Colonel. That convoy needs our help.

Maverick: Right away, sir.

Sosa: You’re cleared, sir. (Success)

Maverick: What is this?

Pliers: One of our MIPs.

Maverick: MIPs?

Pliers: Manned Insertion Pod… a little gimmick I stole about a year ago from some Confed testing site when no one was lookin’.

Maverick: Never heard of it.

Pliers: ’course not. Takes them guys for ever to release new technology, with all their red tape about safety and such.

Maverick: Definitely not for claustrophobic types.

Pliers: Oh, it’s a snug fit. But it’s just the thing for squeezin’ folks into a spot where a shuttle might be too big, or attract too much attention. See that? Latches right onto the target and laser cuts a hole so the guy inside can crawl right through.

Maverick: Lock and launch procedure?

Pliers: Just like firin’ an ImRec. ’course the fella in there has got to release the safety first. And he’s pretty much on his own with minimal steerage.

Maverick: Minimal?

Pliers: Enough to dock at the target, and then fly back out to where you can tractor him in. And it gets pulled right back to one of your hard points, so you can fire it again if you need to. Let me show you somethin’ else. You know how the Kilrathi always had us beat on cloakin’, right? Then along came the Excalibur? ’course I never got my hands on one of those. But I’ve been puttin’ two ’n’ two together in my leisure time, and I came up with this little thing. Now, it won’t give ya a complete cloak but it should be pretty effective at hidin’ you from their radar.

Maverick: Any downside?

Pliers: Well, nothin’s perfect, right? Number one: It runs on a very rare crystal. It’s got a short half-life, so it, uh… it could burn up pretty quickly. That means you might come uncloaked at, shall we say, uh, a potentially inconvenient time.

Maverick: And number two?

Pliers: Uh, number two… I only got one of ’em. And a wingman who ain’t cloaked won’t do ya much good. So if ya wanna use it, you gotta fly solo.

Maverick: Get it ready, Pliers. It might come in handy.

Pliers: You got it, kid.

Maverick: What do I look like, a test pilot?

Pliers: I thought you looked like a pilot that had some spine. Can’t judge a book by its cover, I suppose.

Maniac: Better watch it. All right, Vag? Your bet. All of it? <laughs> He goes for all of it. All right. I call you, what have you got?

Vagabond: Full house: aces and eights.

Maniac: <hums> I got four queens! Four queens! <laughs> It’s mine! <laughs> A toast, buddy! Whoo! Yes!

Maverick: Tell me this is a joke, Vagabond.

Vagabond: Afraid not, partner.

Maniac: He’s not invincible to the ‘Maniac moves’. <laughs> Nobody is! My ship has come in. Lady luck is my bride, the lucky girl. Maybe I should have been flying for the Border Worlds all along.

Maverick: This can’t be happening: you never lose.

Maniac: Okay, who’s next? Oh, come on! Wha…?

Hawk: What? Oh. <cough> I’m awake.

Maverick: <chuckles> Yeah, sure you are.

Hawk: Well, it’s just that <sigh> the last couple of days I haven’t had much of a chance to sleep.

Maverick: Yeah, well, nobody has, but you ought to try the hold.

Hawk: Oh, no… no… Eisen tells me that Confed pulled you out of retirement. What’s it like being back?

Maverick: Well, you know, back in the cockpit with the enemy in my sights, everything’s crystal clear.

Maverick: They deserved every missile I fired.

Hawk: You got that straight. It’s just like it was back then. We didn’t start this thing, right?

Maverick: You hang in there, Hawk.

Hawk: Oh, yeah.

Maverick: Only to put an end to it.

Hawk: But didn’t you relish the kill?

Maverick: There’s no joy in killing.

Hawk: It’s not in the killing. It’s in the winning.

Maverick: Get some coffee, Hawk.

Hawk: Yeah.

Eisen: I don’t mind telling you, Colonel, we’re so close to that missing data, I can taste it.

Maverick: I’m ready to go, sir.

Eisen: Border Worlds Command is sending us a detachment of marines, but they won’t arrive here for another 16 hours. I don’t think we can afford to wait. We’re pushing our luck as it is. Now, the target is this orbiting comm station, which is surrounded by these turret mines. Now, here’s our problem: a radar buoy, which will undoubtedly ring alarm bells across the system if you don’t take it out fast enough. Now, I hope you talked to Pliers about his cloaking device, because if you slip past those turrets, you can quickly take that buoy out and make our delivery.

Maverick: Delivery?

Eisen: Well, as you know, Vagabond’s had some espionage experience. He and Lieutenant Sosa here have volunteered to go in. We’ll use the insertion pods to get them in. Approach the comm station, fire them off, they’ll dock, get the data, and then you’ll pull them out. Because of the clandestine nature of this mission, you’ll have to fly solo. Understood?

Maverick: Completely, Captain.

Eisen: I hope so, Colonel. Because without that missing data, we have nothing. Good luck, Colonel!

Pliers: MIPs are secured. You’re clear for take-off, kid. (No Cloak)

Pliers: I got bad news, kid – you got incoming patrols… big time. (No Cloak)

Vagabond: Our intelligence was kinda off.

Guard: Come on! They’re in here.

Vagabond: We’ve run into some well-armed guards. Gun! Hurry up!

Sosa: Come on.

Computer: Download 60% complete.

Sosa: Come on, come on!

Computer: 80%. Download complete.

Sosa: Got it!

Vagabond: You go that way. Stay low. I’ll draw their fire. Go!

Pliers: You’re clear, kid. Bring her in.

Maverick: We’re here to say goodbye to Lieutenant Winston Chang. This was a man who flew with his heart, as well as his mind. You know, I consider myself luck to have flown with him. And even luckier to have been his friend. Vagabond, may your spirit continue to roam the stars…

Intrepid: Mayday! Mayday! BWS Intrepid… we’re going down, we’re going down! <static>

Miles: The famous hero of the Kilrathi War, also known as “The Heart of the Tiger”, was convicted of treason against the Confederation. No appeal will be allowed.

Soldier: Blindfold?

Maverick: No.

Soldier: Ready. Aim. Fire!