Description
Your job is to defend Alpha Station. Everything is strange. It's quiet too quiet!

Storyline:
Alpha Station just happens to be surrounded by Shivan space, so <u>why</u> would it be quiet? In fact, the game begins with a pilot complaining that it's too quiet...even though hostile Vasduan fighters and hostile Shivan bombers are clearly visible on radar. <p> Add to this blatant discrepancy the background story that Alpha Station is in need of repairs. If things have been so quiet, what damaged the station? Perhaps the least believable of all is the idea that the GTA plans to build a fleet of Dragon fighters from this station...which just happens to be surrounded. <p> And if Alpha Station is surrounded by Shivans, why would the Hammer of Light commit a massive force to an attack? Especially when the Shivans are more than capable of taking out the station themselves! There just isn't any reason at all for this second fleet to arrive...except the Battle of Endor syndrome. <p> The story's just too much to swallow, even when it isn't contradicted by the game. The lackluster briefing doesn't help matters much at all.

Balance:
Grossly, horribly mismatched. Fighting off the Shivans would be difficult enough. But the addition of an equally large Hammer of Light fleet is just too much, and without cause. <p> On the plus side, there might actually be a reason to choose the bombers from the large Terran ship selection in this mission. The Ursas, however, would be more useful if there were enough heavy bombs and missiles for more than three fully-loaded bombers. <p> The default loadout in this mission is four wings of four GTF Hercules armed with Prometheus and Flail cannons, plus Interceptor and Hornet missiles. But these 16 fighters just aren't enough to take out multiple Cruiser and Destroyers. Incredibly, if you DO manage to destroy one of the capital ship fleets...another group will arrive.

Design:
Lots of capital ships does not a good mission make. At least in this mission, the capital ships are placed at opposite directions and at different heights from each other. This results in sustainable framerates, although some slowdown was noticable during my bombing runs on the capital ships. <p> Unfortunately, all those capital ships are instructed to destroy Alpha Station. Even though the Hammer of Light is instructed to be neutral, their orders are to attack Alpha Station and not the Shivans. The Shivans are similarly ordered to only attack Alpha Station and not the HoL. Even if the station is ever destroyed, both the Hammer and the Shivans will turn to annihilate you...but not each other. <p> The first wave of Shivan capital ships will slow down from their initial jump very close to Alpha Station, so even if you ARE able to destroy the capital ships...they'll do even more damage to the station. <p> An amusing design flaw pretty much sums up this mission: the primary objective is satisfied when Alpha Station is destroyed...even though the goal is to <u>defend</u> the station.

Gameplay:
The "repairs" never happen, so you're stuck with defending Alpha Station (79% hull to start) against FOUR fleets of capital ships. There are lots of targets to choose from, and they tend to ignore you to concentrate on the station. This allows for some more-than enjoyable bombing runs on the capital ships until you realize that it is possible to safely park your Ursa bomber and just launch your bombs from a standstill. It's nice to see the explosions from Harbinger bombs, but where's the gameplay if you don't have to worry about a fighter defense?

Other Thoughts:
Reminds me of Custer's Last Stand. There is no cavalry, so it seems that even GTA Command decided to write off Alpha Station as undefensible but never bothered to tell the installation.