Description
Shortly after the destruction of the Lucifer, scientists on Sol are alarmed by the collapse of the Jump Node. A clever scheme to repair the node is concocted, but what will happen once the humans open the node again to the Shivans?

Storyline:
This mission takes place shortly after the collapse of Sol's only jumpnode. According to the well-done command briefing, the node is extremely unstable and could fully collapse at any time, creating a spacial rift which would consume the entire system.

This is probably the best story I've seen in a mission in a long time. It neatly describes what is going and what we're going to do about it. Not only is the story great, it also places the pilot at the Sol side of the node, something that hasn't been done that much in user-created FreeSpace missions.

The mission briefing, though a little lackluster, is equally good as the command brief. The Jump Nodes appear as Nav Buoys and some of the unknown enemy wings don't show up as unknowns.

Balance:
The balance of this mission is excellent. Not too easy and not too hard, this mission provides a great mix of dogfighting and cap-ship fighting, just the right combination for a defend mission.

The default Ulysses figther is a great match for the Scorpion fighters that come through the node. My only complaint though is that Terran forces outnumber the Shivans, if only by a little margin. That is to be expected as half of the GTA fleet is stuck in Sol anyways.

Design:
The design of the mission is great. All the events fire properly and mission objectives work properly. But the best thing about the design about the mission is the ship placement. The author makes good use of all the axises. When you get in the mission, you take a look out your cockpit and see the four Faustus ships placed on either side of the node, it's just great.

Once again, I only have one complaint. The directives aren't exactly stellar. They're pretty much the same directive with different text. They still work, but I would like to see something a little better. However, compared to the rest of the mission, it is really insignificant.

Gameplay:
I'd play this mission again and again. By fixing the few complaints above, this mission could reach instant classic.

Other Thoughts:
The first GOOD mission this year!