Description
It is 6 months after the end of the great war, the Earth has increased its taxation on the colonies to pay for rebuilding its fleet. This tax burden has made life on the colonies nearly unbearable, and two of the colonies have now refused to send any more resources to Earth until this issue is resolved. In this mission you are to escort a colonial team of diplomats to a rendezvous with their counterparts from Earth.

Storyline:
The author's description says it all. While the Rebellion because of taxes is a good idea, it is played out somewhat unrealistically in the mission itself. This mission does not feel like a standalone mission, but rather the first part of a campaign.

Balance:
The only ships available are GTF Apollos, and while there is a nice stock of primary weapons, there aren't even enough missiles to fully equip all of the fighters. I understand that rebelling colonies would be low on resources, but this is absurd. I had to remove much of the arms from other fighters just to get the dual Hornets I favor, and there weren't even MX-50s. I doubt that the colonies would be unable to find at least a couple of Valkyries, or even a Herc or two. In the mission itself, the player is in no real danger, as the 4 fighters can outmaneuver the wings of Hercules that compromise the main fighter threat, and kill them easily. The only real danger is the trio of Cruisers that are present, but they are quickly dispatched.

Design:
Very bad. The diplomatic ship you are assigned to escort, when set upon by GTA ships, instructs you to hold off the enemy while it prepares to jump out. Why preparations are needed is never explained. However, the ship expects four badly armed Apollos to hold off three cruisers, four Medusa bombers, four Ulysses fighters, and a wing of GTF Hercules. While the Hercs and Medusas are quickly dispatched, the Ulysses can be a problem, outspeeding your fighters, and it is very hard to prevent all of the Medusas from delivering their payloads. The diplomatic ship is a hopeless cause. Later, the cruisers are easy to handle, with the timely arrival of a Destroyer.

Gameplay:
Without any real danger to the player, and no clear objectives other than to destroy all enemy forces, the mission simply isn't fun. The enemy never receives any reinforcements and the fighter screen for the cruisers is quickly dispatched. There is simply no challenge at all once the GTD Musashi arrives - after only a couple of minutes of combat - and deploys two full wings of fighters to assist you.

Other Thoughts:
A good idea that fails miserably. Based on the debriefing information, it looks like this mission is the beginning of a campaign, but the author does not state anywhere that additional missions are forthcoming. That's a shame, because if the lack of gameplay could be fixed, Death and Taxes would make an excellent leader into a campaign about a Terran civil war.