Mission Critical/Transcriptions

This is a transcription of the speeches heard/seen in the game. They are intended to help players since the videos don't provide subtitles.

Dayna's captain's log

 * (Cptn Dayna's last log; can be heard when you enter his room)

This is Lexington, Captain's log. I don't have much time. The bridge recorders and comlogs will have full transcripts of the events that led to the current situation. This is a subjective account intended for the Captain's Log only. I'm afraid any gaps must be filled-in later using previous entries.

A lot has gone wrong since we first arrived in orbit around Persephone, a God-forsaken world at the end of a 68 light-year voyage that has tried my ship and my crew. The details of this mission are known only to myself, my Χ.Ο. Lieutenant Commander Tran and the Captain of the Jericho, the science ship we've escorted from Earth. The 3 of us have carried this secret, a burden that has gotten heaver during each week of the trip out. We knew that what we might find on Persephone could well help us turn the tide in the war with the United Nations. We knew that it might even change the course of human history.

Things haven't worked out that way. And as strange as it seems, I think the crew knew towards the end that this was going to be an one-way trip. A sense of foreboding crept over the ship as Persephone came into visual range. As we got closer, I could see it in their eyes, in their drawn and exhausted faces. I could feel it in myself. An almost palpable dread that permeated every corner of the ship. It was justified. Nothing could had prepared us for the mess that waited for us in the other side of Persephone.

Distress message

 * (video of Kimbely Falcon during the battle; it is seen if you attempt to use the Comm Room controls until you learn the code to override it)

All Alliance ships: This is the USS Lexington.

Hull ID: Lima Charlie Bravo Hotel Zero Niner

Mayday, mayday! We are under attack by a UN Geneva-class heavy cruiser. Our defensive screen is being penetrated, our mission is being compromised. The ship has sustained serious damage. The electronics in the external communications array were sorted out by an enemy strike while we were moving the dish to acquire a new transmission. Our dish is now locked in a useless position. If you receive this message, please retransmit to the Alliance base on Erebus as soon as possible. Stand by for a coded telemetry burst with mission data under Paradox encryption.

Tran's 1st message

 * (seen on the Wardroom monitor)

I'm sure you wonder what's going on. I'll explain. You're probably aware that the Lexington was attacked by a UN ship. We were outgunned and on the verge of being destroyed when Captain Dayna notified the UN captain of our desire to surrender. Garrick agreed to take the crew of the Lexington and Jericho aboard before destroying both ships. As I record this message, Garrick is waiting for us to transfer over to his ship on the Lexington shuttle. You are the only one left behind. If we're lucky, the UN bastard will ignore one crewman left on-board the Lexington.

We intend to detonate a thermo-nuclear device after our shuttle has been taken aboard the UN vessel. This will completely destroy their ship... and will also kill everyone on-board both shuttles. This will leave you free to complete our mission. There is nothing more important than this mission... including the lives of the crew. We died so that you can finish what we started.

[static]

Our ship was badly hurt during the UN attack. The first thing you must do is make it with the worst of the battle damage. There are problems which directly threaten the mere of survival of this ship. Now first of all, the primary power reactor is headed for a meltdown because the coolant system is failed. The molten core will eat through the containment vessel of the reactor and set off the fuel for the fusion engines. The resulting explosion will completely destroy the Lexington and the nearby Jericho. You need to get to Engineering and stop the runaway chain reaction.

The meltdown is the top priority. When you deal with that problem, then you must get the central computer back in operation. Without that you cannot complete the mission.

[static]

Currently all computer processing has been delegated to the smaller decentralized computers that exist on each deck of the ship. They do not communicate with each other except on a very primitive level, an aft to keep you might think of it is subconscious ship functions going. There is no overall intelligence on these autonomous systems.

The ship's central computer is made up of Turing cores and is home to the complex software that gives this ship's computer its smarts. The higher functions of this ship's brain resides on the central computer cores. These cores are currently inoperative. The primary cores were destroyed and the secondary cores failed to activate when they were supposed to.

You must get the central computer back online.

I've recorded one more message. You' ll hear from me again when you get the central computer back in operation. I've key-coded the message so that the higher functions of the main computer will pick it up and display it for you as soon as the central cores are once again operational.

Good luck. And be careful.

Tran out.

Tran's 2nd message

 * (seen right after you repair the central computer; unfortunately it's played only once and can't be played back)

Congratulations. You got the Central Computer back online. Now you must figure out a way to get the communications systems back in working order.

The Tachyon Beam Transmitter is a large parabolic dish on the outside of the hull. The control systems for that dish had been rendered inoperative. You must figure out how to get the targeting and control mechanism working again. Once the system is up, override the looping distress call by entering the following code: M-E-L-I-S-S-A. Melissa. Then ask the Central Computer to run the IPS program and use it to align the dish on the Tachyon Relay Beacon sitting near the jump-point in this star system.

You will have to establish a relay connection through a web of jump points to reach any bases or ships. You will need to talk to the Alliance base on Erebus. They will explain the Lexington's mission and can help you finish that mission in real time. I have done everything I can. Good luck. Tran out.

Poole's message

 * (the following can be heard from the device found in the ship miniature)

Scramble Blue Attention Sword Codename: Dharma Clease

Authentication: Echo 2 Alpha 3 5 Transmitting at 22.5 niner with the periodic low power NGCS burst

This is James Poole on the USS Lexington. Message follows:

Per the last transmission from Dharma I armed the bomb this morning before the officers' briefing, when I had the room to myself. If you intend to board the Lexington you will need to disarm the bomb immediately upon arrival. The timer has been set according to instructions.

Poole out. Message repeats.

"Why we fight"

 * (the voice over of the "why we fight" briefing cutscene that offers some background information. It is seen when you use the VR system in the mess hall; it can't be heard again after you pull its cables to solve a puzzle)

We are all familiar with the short version of the events that led to this terrible war. During the 2nd half of the 21st century, the leaders of the world government got a glimpse of the shape of things to come. They were afraid of what they saw. Their reaction was to deny the inevitable, slamming the breaks on all technological progress.

In 2082 a group of states led by the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan decided that the cure was worse than the disease. The UN power structure reacted violently to the repel of tek?? States participating in the repel campaign were targeted for brutal suppression by the UN enforcement.

Signatures to the Singapore Treaty formed the Alliance of Free States and announced their secession from the United Nations. They were joined by every major planetary colony settlement and orbital habitat.

In 2085 large scale armed conflict returned to Earth for the first time in the 100 years. The UN immediately invaded the territory of the cesseding nations on Earth. UN hovertanks, troops and ground supporter craft crushed with new Alliance military units made up of men and women from Alliance states who defected from UN control.

The war ground to a hwole kept a less than two months as both sides ran out of soldiers, weapons and materiel. The Alliance states managed to hang onto their home territories. An uneasy truce was negotiated between the UN and the Alliance, and the world entered an uneasy period, known as the New Cold War.

In 2111 the UN attacked again, and war returned on an interplanetary scale. Population centers on Earth and the colonies were bombarded from space by particle beam weapons. Armies fought tank battles supported by buzzing swarms of aircraft. Starships battled each other over asteroid mines, orbital habitats and planetary installations. The furious pace of the war once again chewed up the stocks of men and materiel in a matter of months.

This time, there was no truce. In spite of the economic exhaustion, the two sides continued to fight a war of attrition, a war that hence lasted more than 20 years and shows no signs of ending. The war has continued despite the price paid by both sides because all of the combatants are convinced that they are on the right side. The UN infirmly believes that unchecked technological development will kill off the human race. The Alliance states are just infirmed in their convictions that death is better than life without freedom and without forward progress.