Side Mission D/1 - Endless -
http://www.wyrdysm.com/battleshipsforev ... ndless.enc
This mission takes place just before Slaughterhouse. It takes place in the Zulu Sector, during the futile back and forth battling that occurs before the player arrives to take over command from Major T. Hong. I present a tentative timeline of "two weeks before Slaughterhouse". In order to play it in the Timeline, play it just after Siege, then play Endless then Infinity, then Slaughterhouse. This side mission is unique: In order to portray the battle correctly, as an endless battle with no real winner, I present the battle in two halves. In this way, the player wins on both sides, and sets up the Slaughterhouse Stalemate. For the first half, you control Major Hong and his men. You have just recieved word from TFHQ about the last transmissions that Cherenkov made before he went silent: The Aliens have some alliance with the Pirates. This doesn't seem to have any bearing at the fight currently; all ships are standard Pirate fare...
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Objectives:
Keep the pirates out of your quadrant of Zulu sector (the green planet in the lower left corner) by defending your Defense Platforms and Battlestation - at least one of the three must survive.
Keep an eye out for Alien interference.
Major Hong's Ship must survive.
Force the Pirate Commander to temporarily withdraw so you can build up your lines.
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During the opening battle:
Major Hong: "What a waste..." *he sighs.* "If this weren't such an important sector strategically, I'd say we should just get out of here. How are we doing with the base construction? And more importantly, how are they doing with it?"
Lance Corporal: "Sir, our bases will be awhile until we finish. We're bringing in defense platforms to help defend the area, but it will be awhile yet until the stargates fnish and we can bring in more battlestations. Luckily, the pirates seem to be in the same predicament."
Major Hong: "Alright... keep on the defensive, then. No sense pushing without our full battalion ready. And keep an eye out for those supposed aliens."
Lance Corporal: "Sir, reinforcements are coming, and the pirates are mounting another attack. Time to go in."
After Wave 1:
Lance Corporal: "We've eliminated their outlying Defense platforms, sir. Beta wing is moving in, we'll have their Hestias shortly. And not a moment too soon, more pirates, sir... No defense platforms this time though. All offense."
Major Hong: "They've changed strategies... look how they stagger their jumps. They're trying to trap us. Be mindful of that. Send in Beta wing as soon as they arrive."
Lance Corporal: "Yessir."
After Wave 2:
Lance Corporal: "They're gating in more defense platforms. I wonder where they got all these resources from..."
Darren Christos: *static... and the transmission blares over Hong's loudspeaker.* "This is Darren Christos, Red Fang Pirates. Why waste your time here? Pack up and leave. We have far more resources to commit here than you ever will."
Major Hong: "We don't surrender to pirates. Move in and remove those emplacements!"
Darren Christos: "Your funeral." *static.*
After Wave 3, and the 5 Defense Platforms are destroyed:
Lance Corporal: "Major! Pull back! It's an tr-*static. Slightly off the screen, the lance corporal's ship explodes just after pirate ships gate in on both flanks. An ambush.*
Darren Christos: "You had your warning, Terran."
Major Hong: "Pull back and regroup! Don't let them destroy our emplacements!"
Sergeant: "Sir, they're all clustered up. I've moved up a pair of Moira from the reserves, we can use their Gluon bolters against the clustered groups to our advantage."
After Wave 4, the Ambush, is destroyed:
Major Hong: "It's... very very quiet. What's going on? Comms, what's out there?"
Comms. Officer: "Nothing at the moment sir. We... can't see anything. Hrm. Wait, there's something I think. Damn, those are small signatures."
Major Hong: *Looks out his bridge through space in the direction of the pings.* "They're not small ships though... hell, they don't even look like the pirate ships. They're painted differently."
Darren Christos: "Say hello to the new fleet, scumbags!" *with this, the newly alien-powered ships release a few portable defense emplacements, and commence their attack*
Major Hong: "What the hell weapons are those...? All units, scramble! Meet them head on! Jackson! Get your Cronus up here!"
After Wave 5:
Darren Christos: "Fine. C'mon Hong, you and me. Let's dance, Terran."
Major Hong: "Like I would take your word for it. Take that Pirate dog's head!"
Darren Christos: "Smarter than you look. Let's go boys, we've got enough for one last strike."
Sergeant: "Major, they've finished gating in one of their battlestations! We should take that out as soon as we mop up here... can't let them get a foothold on the area."
When Darren's core is reduced to 50%:
Darren: *His core activates an emergency thruster, blasting him out of the battle and backwards safely into his lines. "Dammit... Nagaya will be pissed."
Nagaya: "Yes... yes, I am."
Darren: "Nagaya, you're... back. Err.."
Nagaya: "Get out of my sight... and have the Nanz help repair your ship. We're going back in there."
Darren: "Yes, King Nagaya."
Sergeant: "Sir, it looks like they've withdrawn. Once we take out the battlestation.. .well, it's not a victory, but they didn't gain anything either. I hope we can end this soon..."
Major Hong: "Hang on... we're getting a transmission. ... Cherenkov's ship? Heading this way? Odd. I wonder why he didn't send any communications. Well.. withdraw for now, and rebuild our lines. We don't have the manpower to launch a counter strike at the moment."
When the battlestation and Darren have both been eliminated...:
Mission Accomplished!
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Editor's notes: Okay.. .um.. .I know it's not exactly canon to have armies that size. But I can't have ships that auto respawn when they die, and I can't tell when YOU'RE going to lose ships. So big numbers are sort of necessary to cut down your ships, since you get reinforcements. If anyone has any suggestions, please give them. It's hard to give the impression of no clear winner while still making the scenario.. well... winnable.