Description
You and your beat-up group have been lucky enough to survive the Shivans and have found a node to terran command which will allow you to inform them of the new threat. Of course you must get by the old threat to deliver your message. One of the cargo ships with you was lucky enough to accidently record the entire attack, this data is vital to help intelligence to begin to form a strategy of defense. You and cargo ship 3 must jump through the node.

Storyline:
This mission continues the story into the aftermatch of the first Shivan attack. Again, this is an interesting story that should be told. It's a dangerous time, when the Terrans were at war with the Vasudans and terrified by an unknown and unstoppable new alien force. This is the stuff of great FreeSpace missions, even though the technology available is limited. <p> However, the mission briefing is only a little less informative than the description on Xanadu's. Basically, escort the transports to a Jump Node which is guarded by the Vasudans. Expect to encounter sentries and fighters on your way to the Jump Node. <p> In addition to being extremely short and confusing, the mission briefing shows icons partially off screen, a Jump Node named "0" looking like a NavBouy, and an asteroid field showing up as a sentry gun.

Balance:
This is the Terran-Vasudan war, so you'll be piloting an Apollo armed with ML-16 Lasers and MX-50 Missiles. And don't even think about shields. Given the technology limitations, these missions are difficult to balance. However, flying without shields is an excellent way to improve your flying skills and missile evasion. You'll get plenty of practice, dodging the fire of sentry guns and chasing around PVF Seths. The smarter Seths are armed with Avengers, which makes them dangerous foes. Unfortunately, the Avenger wasn't created yet at the beginning of the Great War. <p> Good pilots will have a great challenge, but pilots too used to shields will find their skills lacking. Probably a little too difficult, but it is obvious that some thought went into balancing this misison.

Design:
There are a few different elements in this mission, but not many events. Still, most things seem to come together. There is a little asteroid field to cross through on the way to the Jump Node, which provides wonderful cover for transports during the battle. The best part about this is that the transport wing <u>does</u> manage to retreat and take cover in the asteroid field. And the rest of Alpha wing will retreat along with the transports as they reach the Jump Node. <p> Unfortunately, quite a few flaws show this to be an early and novice FRED design. The transport wing is misnamed "beta" in the messages, but correctly read as "delta" in the sound file. Wings and icons are poorly named. There are no directives or escort ships which show their hull status on the HUD. Even with only two primary goals, the debriefing is only set up to describe the winning results. Much more polishing is necessary on this mission.

Gameplay:
I enjoyed myself greatly and re-learned to fly without the benefit of shields in this mission. If you don't enjoy flying by the seat of your pants, knowing that any shot that connects with your ship <u>will</u> do hull damage, then you won't enjoy this mission. But if you enjoy a great dogfight where every shot counts, this mission can deliver the goods. <p> Of course, the sentires are extremely dangerous...even when they're only armed with light turrets. Also, the second Vasduan wave is extremely dangerous. They're smarter and better armed than the GTF Apollos you'll be flying. And these PVF Seths are fresh and at 100% hull. The sentries are extremely dangerous, even with weak turrets, because there are no shields to take the punishement. This makes the mission harder than I would like, but it isn't totally impossible. Just takes practice.

Other Thoughts:
A large improvement over Ash to Ashes 1, but still far from polished. I just can't give it any more than a 1.5 star rating in its current unfinished condition.