...Stays in Vega

Inferno Nostos

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ACT 3 - MISSION 45

Fighter squadron: 74th Templars

Description: The Shivan superjuggernaut Anathema is rebuilding the node to Capella, and the squad is deployed to defend an AWACS monitoring the Anathema's progress. Things quickly get out of hand.

Location: Vega-Capella node, Vega

Background

The Anathema fleet has reached the node to Capella, where the Shivans where sealed a generation ago. Two destroyers, the GVD Nekhbet and the EACa Virgil, have been loaded with Attila bombs and are on standby to make kamikaze runs in subspace once the Anathema finishes rebuilding the node to Capella. The squad's job is to protect the GTA Charybdis-class AWACS GTA Beholder while it monitors the Anathema's progress, but things rapidly get out of hand.

Walkthrough

Prepare your loadout for a heavy intercept mission. You'll need a strong hull, so both the GTF Alves and GTF Keres are good choices.

You warp in to guard the Beholder just as heavy beam fire misses you. The first portion of the mission is to guard the Beholder against two waves of Shivans, doing a mix of straightforward bomber intercept and sniping beam turret. As the mission proceeds, other escort ships and fighters will join you, but they are all expendable. Between Shivan waves, Allied capital ships attempt to engage the Anathema, and each gets annihilated.

During the second portion of the mission, the Shivans send an entire destroyer battlegroup led by the SD Kulshedra. Your job here is to pick targets for the GTSG Mjolnir cannons to destroy the Shivan group one by one (using the comms menu to order "Hammerstar" to attack targets), trying to not get shot down along the way. Finally, after the entire Kulshedra group is downed, the Capella-Vega node stabilizes, and Command orders the GVD Nekhbet to start its run. The Virgil is nowhere to be seen, and the squad starts freaking out.

But there's only one problem: the Shivans don't cooperate. The Anathema enters subspace later than expected, the Nekhbet gets the message too late, and the Nekhbet jumps straight into the Anathema's main beams. Oops. Then the Anathema jumps out... and two SSD Vidyadhar superdestroyers jump in.

This opens the third part of the mission: the GTA Al-Kindi warps in at extreme range, and Command gives you a set of EtaK viral packages to use against the Vidyadhar pair. Beta and Crux will upload the virus to the SSD Mahakala, while Alpha 1 uploads it to the SSD Veerabhadra, covered by Alpha and Zeta. Nanojump to the Veerabhadra, scan the weapons subsystem to upload the virus, then nanojump clear.

In the last portion of the mission, Command sends the GTSD Bastion and EASD Nemesis to engage the Vidyadhars. Alpha and Zeta wings are to cover the Bastion, while Beta and Crux cover the Nemesis. This part of the mission is a straightforward intercept. Focus on taking down bombers and the Bastion should be fine.

At long last, after both Vidyadhars are destroyed, the Virgil reappears, and Command orders you to escort the Virgil for its final run. There's still one last chance to save civilization.

Notes

• The GTA Al-Kindi is named after the Arab mathematician of the 9th century AD, who is known as the father of cryptography.