Description
You and your wing have to protect the GTC Voyager from destruction. The GTC Voyager is carring a new device which will help aid the GTA and VPE war effort

Storyline:
Once again, there is an interesting story that just isn't developed once you get past the mission briefing. There is a decent story given in good command and mission briefings, despite some gramatical difficulties. The odd thing is that some aspects are well described (like the experimental drive you're protecting), while other aspects are just dropped in with no explanation (like a new sol jump node and terran ships with shivan weapons.). It really throws the player's immersion off to have so many unexplained events. Another big problem is a discrepancy between your mission objectives and the debriefing. Your primary goal is to defend the GTC Voyager, and destroying enemy fighter wings is a secondary objective. These objectives work properly in mission, but for some reason, you must complete both the primary and the secondary objectives to get the "good" debriefing. It is very confusing to watch the Voyager jump out, and then be told that its loss is a serious blow to the Terrans. I hate to keep saying this, but this storyline had a lot of potential. I was really expecting something good after seeing the command and mission briefings, but unfortunately, I was thoroughly confused by the end of the mission since there was no plot development whatsoever. This is quickly becoming a pet peeve...

Balance:
Well, this mission would be insanely difficult were it not for the short distance the Voyager has to travel. As it stands now, you can pretty much order your wingmen to defend the Voyager while you do whatever you want. She'll take a pounding, but your wingmen provide enough cover for her to jump in around 3 minutes. In fact, I tried doing that very thing. The Voyager escaped with 8% hull (for some reason, this failed my primary objective). After that, everything gets really wierd. A bunch of shivan cruisers will jump in, only to be destroyed by two friendly leviathons equipped with shivan super lasers (?). Then more shivan cruisers will jump in, but they are destroyed by a mass of friendly ships that have arrived by now. Once the Voyager jumps, there's not much to do but watch all your ships wipe the proverbial floor with the shivans, you won't be able to get to them before they bite the dust. Also, this is a scramble mission, so you can't select your ship or weapons. You are given a herc loaded with a prometheus, a banshee, hornets, and interceptors. Pretty standard fare, but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to select your own armament.

Design:
Okay, there are some good elements and some bad elements here. I'll start with the good ones. Pretty much every editor is used: ships are named, loadouts are set, the Voyager is on your escort list, and directives are properly implemented. Unfortunately, these good aspects are outweighed by several problems. There is the aforementioned problem with the debriefing, which makes no sense at all. Out of several dozen ships and objects, there were about four that were not on the y-plane (Is it so hard to move ships up or down? There are three dimensions to work with, why not use them all?). There are two wings of shivan cruisers. This really doesn't make any sense, and it really detracts from the mission. Also, these cruisers have no weapons, so they're pretty much cannon fodder for the friendly cruisers that will jump in and cream them with shivan super lasers (There's absolutely no explanation give for this, either.). Shivan bombers are equipped with MX-50's, phoenix V's, and synaptics. No bombs? The fighters are probably more threatening to the Voyager than the bombers. All these things really add up to a thoroughly confusing experience that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Gameplay:
Do I really need to go into this? All you have to do is order your ships to defend the Voyager and maybe shoot down a shivan or two. There is virtually NO gameplay to be had here.

Other Thoughts:
I'm really disappointed with this mission, it really seemed to start off well...