1: Noise Flies High

The Pfhor have begun to overwhelm the ship. We have to start mobilising our troops to the planet below, Fenris. The first wave of escape pods has left the ship. Noah and I will travel in the second wave. In the meantime, we need you to stay on board the Gingerbread Man and take out any Pfhor boarding parties you may encounter. Pfhor particle beams are diffused to almost nothing when diffracted by water vapour during in-atmosphere combat. Noah believes the Pfhor will attempt to use the ESR Industrial-Class Matter Driver Cannon Array on board the Gingerbread Man.

ESR industrial-class Matter Drivers are primarily suited to shattering large asteroids to aid ore-mining: they are notably powerful and accurate. If the Pfhor can fire a Matter Driver even once, nothing will remain of us but ashes. We can't let the Pfhor gain control of the Matter Drivers -- clear out the Pfhor on this deck and await further instructions from Noah. Good luck.

UESC Gingerbread Man    |Roland-class Cruiser    |Emergency Systems Broadcast Tactical Operations AI Noah Secondary scans indicate Pfhor boarding parties in tactically advantageous locations throughout the UESC Gingerbread Man. I would surmise that the boarding parties in the local area intend to use the primary Matter Driver Cannon array to neutralise escape pods en route to the planet below. They have begun to isolate the hardware and software footprint of the Matter Driver Cannon array and have locked power to input consoles in the local area. Their progress cannot be allowed to continue unimpeded.

UESC Gingerbread Man    |Roland-class Cruiser    |Emergency Systems Broadcast Tactical Operations AI Noah The UESC Gingerbread Man has begun to collapse under the weight of the nearby planet's atmosphere. The Matter Drivers will likely be inoperably damaged before the Pfhor can recharge clean plasma seals to a sufficient threshold for combat. Your orders are to make your way to hangar G12 to reset the power router, flush the Matter Driver plasma seals, place the Matter Driver Cannon Array outside Pfhor control and ensure the safety of the escape pods.

By the time the Pfhor recharge the Matter Driver plasma seals, the Gingerbread Man will be little more than semi-molten metal, halfway to the surface of Fenris. For the time being, the body of the Gingerbread Man will comfortably shield us from orbital attack, and the final wave of escape pods has launched. We can safely begin a complete exodus of all our mobile resources to the planet below. Nice work! Thanks to Noah, a carpet of tactical orbital missiles has heralded our arrival nicely, and it would seem that the first wave of pods is having little trouble establishing a beachhead.

However, I seem to have lost contact with Isaac, The operations AI on our sister ship, the UESC Venator. Our main priority must be to use all available resources to regain and hold a solid communications link. Before transferring his core to pod E-104A, Noah recommended that you assist his landing party in establishing a perimeter. They have already begun a preliminary assault on the southern face of the communications facility. As soon as we receive a clear beacon from E-104A, I'll send you in for some search and destroy. I'm sure you know the drill.