Wing Commander VI
The Legend of the Seventh Disc
What happens, you ask, if I don't WANT to defect from Confed,
even after being asked twice? The apocryphal answer is below, in reality as
virtually true as can be imagined. The legendary 7th CD carried out
this path: perhaps someone somewhere lucky enough to have this rare disk can
upload it to the net for your retrieval. I saw it once on
talk.bermuda.triangle, but my
connection went down after I'd gotten only 457 meg of the file.
Of course, you must hunt down Eisen and the Intrepid. Having escaped you in
Silenos, the Lexington follows the Intrepid through the jump point into
Orestes. You must fight past Hawk and Panther, each of whom challenges you,
the "Heart of the Tiger" over the comm. Then as you approach the Intrepid,
Maniac switches sides again, helping you and Seether destroy the Intrepid as
Eisen broadcasts desperate pleas for assistance. Back on the Intrepid,
Paulsen congratulates you with all his special charm, and remarks it looks
like you'll soon have the chance to finish with an old foe. Seether,
meanwhile gives Maniac a thumping, coldly mocking a cringing Maniac for his
cowardice. He tells Paulsen not to punish Maniac for his initial defection:
"He'll be more useful out there as a target for the Border Worlds scum to w
aste their shots on" Afterwards a chastened, battered and bleeding Maniac
tells you that as soon as he'd landed on the Intrepid with Eisen he realized
he?d made a huge mistake. "The captain was dead, most of the crew was
breathing vacuum, the ship was a total wreck. No way the Maniac wasn't gonna
bail that flying scrap yard first chance!"
Your next mission brief is to fly against the Kilrathi base in
Pasqual. This time you get to hear Melek bitterly denounces you for
your treachery and inconstancy as you toast him and his furry comrades
inside their exploding base, defended by a mix of Kilrathi Dralthi and BW
fighters. Admiral Tolwyn comes aboard the Lexington, bringing you
reinforcements in the form of the new Dragon fighters, and he praises you
for your destruction of Eisen and Melek. He urges you to work closely
with Seether, saying "unimaginable" rewards are available for loyal
service. It's a bit unclear if he means service to Confed or to him
personally. He cuts short your qualms about flying in unmarked fighters (
the Dragons). Clearly, you have blown it again with the prickly Admiral,
who tells you to "wise up, Colonel, you only get so many chances to play for
the winning team"
Next you fly in the Telamon system, defending the jumppoints from incoming
BW forces as planet FT-957 is dusted with the Gen-Select weapon. From now
on, all your missions will include an offer from BW forces for you to
defect, doing so (after killing Seether & any other wingmen) will go to
the losing endgame described below.
You land amidst a scene of chaos and carnage, burning and bodies and wrecked
equipment. A harried woman identifying herself as Lt. Sosa greets you. "We
could have used your help, Colonel "when it would have made a difference"
"The things I've seen?" you reply, "I have to stop those bastards! They don't
care who they kill!"
"It's too late," Sosa replies, "We just sent out our surrender. There's
no-one left to fight for."
There is a brief trial scene. You are shown nobly defending the values of
freedom and the strength of the human spirit from the stand, vowing to
"fight on until simple decency and the true honor of the warrior prevail."
The final scene shows your corpse, entangled in barbed wire, dusty swirls
of wind tugging at your hair as bored guards are heard discussing your fate,
only their jackboots and the muzzles of their rifles visible. "Another
worthless mutt trying to break out?saves us the trouble of feeding his
useless mouth." "A flyer from the looks of those clothes." "Die in the sky,
die in the dirt," the first guard replies, "the weak have to be taught
their place sooner or later."
However, its still possible to win on this path. Tolwyn arrives with
the Vesuvius, announcing that the main BW fleet has been run to ground, and
you will lead the assault on Admiral Wilford's "pathetic" force of
criminal insurgents. Its clear though that the Admiral favors Seether over
you, and you understand that Seether's job is to see that you carry out
Tolwyn's orders to the letter. First you must open a jumppoint, destroying
3 cap ships and some 24 fighters in 6 waves. The next mission sees you
through into Circe for the climatic battle, destroying the assembled BW
cruisers and carriers: you fly with a loadout including two flashpaks.
After the battle is won, with the surviving BW forces surrendering,
Seether orders you to destroy two fleeing transports, one of which has
Sosa pleading for mercy over the comm, the other transport has Pliers
cursing and reviling you. "Heart of the Tiger," he sneers, "at least the
damn Pussys bothered to eat what they killed." Maniac goes crazy and begins
firing wildly at all around him, and Seether quickly flames his ship, then
deliberately blasts Maniac's escape pod, laughing and telling you he'll do
the same to you if you don't follow his orders. Its possible to fight
Seether at this point, and even kill him, but endless waves of fighters
launch from the Vesuvius until you die, or eject, in which case you get
an abbreviated version of the losing scenes. Should you go ahead and
destroy the refugee transports, however, you go to this path's winning ending.
A guard is reporting to you, "Commandant Blair, Re-education Camp 34
detainee Transport reporting as ordered, sir. 200 prisoners died in transit,
75 prisoners are too sick to work and require "special" treatment."
"Acknowledged" you reply, signing off on a proffered form. You watch the
two files of dejected, slumping prisoners in torn and filthy clothing
slowly shuffle through the gates of your camp. You see some faces. Is
that Rollins? Could that emaciated woman with the hacking cough be
Rachel? Fade out.
Oh well. At least it beats blowing up planets-full of sentient beings.