Stage 13:
Ah. Already up to mission number thirteen, I see. Well,
it is up to you to decide how lucky (or unlucky, as the case
might be) this mission turns out. As the scene fades in, you are
in side the gunnery pod mounted to one of many turret posts
attached to Starbase Hydra, during the beginning of a pirate
assault. And in the fashion that they appear to be arriving here
seems to be using the technology of a Gravity Ring. Possibly the
very one that was stolen from the Midway Runner Project that
ended in utter failure a few missions back. Anyway, your first
mission is to clear enough of the enemy away to allow room for
S.S. Pegasus to safely leave the docking bay. Luckily, the base's
defense system is powerful enough to ensure immediate ID and lock
on all the intruders, making your job a little easier. Especially
when they begin to swarm around the station like mosquitos.
After a few minutes of battle, their numbers begin to
dwindle from the counter measures laid on them from the starbase,
ensuring a safe enough environment to launch a much needed supply
ship towards some starving colonies located out on some of the
rim worlds. And as the ship pulls out from its' safe heaven, SAL
releases the locking clamps of the tower and fires the retros,
guiding the pod into protective position aboard the Pegasus as
the many guns of the space station provide cover fire from the
remaining pirate ships. As soon as the latching process is
completed, you regain control and reengage the enemy while the
navigator takes the ship through the local Gravitron Ring,
heading towards the first of the four colonies scheduled for
supply delivery. As you enter the light tunnel, the scanning
officer reports three pirate craft have been detected approaching
behind the Pegasus. This poses quite a unique situation. You see,
at these speeds, no known weapon could out run a ship in front of
it without having the assistance of the Gravitron effect to give
it extra speed. However, ammunition moving away from a ship and
aimed towards another ship behind the first one can not only be
hit, but the force of the hit is greatly multiplied due to the
high speeds of the pursuing ship. Though a great disadvantage is
that at such great speeds, once fired, the ammunition is almost
immediately subjected to the laws of regular space and tends to
travel in a straight line at normal speeds instead of retaining
the full forward momentum of the weapon which fired it. Meaning
that unless the ship is directly behind the weapon, there is no
time for the shot to start at the top of the ship and journey
down right behind the engines, impacting with the enemy while
said foe is traveling as said similar speeds. Although the shot
would be hurled at great speeds and hit the spot aimed at, said
enemy would have been long gone (due to the forward momentum of
the craft) by the time that the ammunition hit the marked spot.
So, unless the enemy is unfortunate enough to drift into the
extremely tight range that your weapon's are effective in, (and
the navigation's officer will be trying her best to make that
possible) you will more likely be fighting them in amongst normal
space rather then in the advantaged position of the light tunnel.
As the Pegasus comes out of the tunnel, you enter a
quadrant of space that is heavily patrolled by pirateers. As you
unleash the plasma bolt at the solar shield, the three pursuers
emerge out of the tunnel and back into normal space, ready to
begin the assault. The engines begin to roar and pulsate under
the demands of the throttle. But already, the pirate numbers are
beginning to accumulate. Good thing you have lots of assistance
to deal with the numbers.
Next time the player plays the game, he/she inserts the
required credit(s), then inserts the pass card into the card slot
(located above the quarter slots), and presses the start button
(the button is a combination of the start and plasma bolt) to
begin stage fourteen.
Return to part 2 of the stage board.
Proceed to part 4 of the stage board.
Return to home page.
Copyright Jerod Underwood Park 1997
All rights reserved