The Vaygr leader Makaan, a deluded warlord hailed as a messiah by the loose tribes of his people, recently transmitted a message to Karan S’Jet: ‘I have come to claim what is mine. Return the second Core to me and I will spare your homeworld.” Our spies tell us he has found a third hyperspace Core; the first seems lost somewhere in the outer reaches of space, so he needs only ours to crush the galaxy in his grip.

Target the Engines. Even if you can’t destroy a capital ship, you can still cripple it.

The Cores easily tip the balance of power since they can instantly transfer an entire fleet across vast stretches of space. Sometimes I wonder what the mysterious Progenitors who built the Cores would think if they saw the decimation caused by the fierce battles over these ancient relics.

Cue the Ominous Music. Sleek Vaygr fighter craft emerge from hyperspace.

The Ultimate Multi-Tasker

Our new mothership, The Pride of Hiigara, sits docked at the outpost Tanis, hidden in a frontier known as the Great Wastelands. Quite a sight, she even dwarfs the capital ships moored nearby. I watch her resource collectors gather essential supplies for the journey to Hiigara. I watch her production facilities roar to life and produce squadrons of interceptors, bombers and pulsar gunships as well as battlecruisers, destroyers and even marine frigates, which can latch on to an enemy ship and send its troops aboard to claim it for our side. I marvel at our fleet’s self-sufficiency, but I imagine one expects no less from a race long accustomed to a nomadic existence.

The Heart of the Matter. The Hiigaran Hyperspace Core glides into position.

S’Jet oversees these operations from inside The Pride, a job that becomes even more incredible in battle as she dispatches ships and plots their attack paths through the three dimensions of space, simultaneously producing reinforcements via the ever diligent resource collectors. She even manages to set her research facilities to work building various types of sensors and other ship enhancements, send scout craft and probes to feel out enemy positions and construct facilities to build corvettes, frigates and other large craft.

S’Jet must direct operations on board carriers and other capital ships, occasionally telling them when to engage in similar activities. I admit it’s a humbling experience — it’s as if she can pause a battle in her mind, queue up orders and resume the action. And she always seems to know the right battle formations and strike groups to employ for any given situation. Truly she possesses an otherworldly prescience.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream “You Destroyed My Bombers!” A group of fighter craft becomes dust particles.

The Mission is the Warlord

The bridge hails me. My own Ferin Sha fleet, created as an adjunct of the Hiigaran defense forces, stands ready to move out, and so I give my crew the signal to disengage our moorings. S’Jet wishes us to track down Makaan’s whereabouts; a deadly mission that I gladly accept, so great my admiration for her. Even the possibility of capture by the Vaygr fleet does not frighten me; their interrogation techniques cannot be worse than this vagabond existence.

Cue the Dramatic Music. The Hiigaran mothership.

I hear the engines come alive, a muffled rumble that gently vibrates the floor beneath my feet and sends a thrill up my spine. I must leave now for the bridge and silently say farewell to The Pride of Hiigara as we move clear of the fleet and enter hyperspace. Something tells me, however, that I will see the mothership sooner than expected, for I’m certain that reports of minimal enemy activity around Hiigara must be a trap designed to lure us in. If S’Jet and her people meet with trouble, I will return to lend a hand before continuing my mission, so honoring my pledge.

I will do anything to defeat the Vaygr and hear her voice once more, as she welcomes us to our homeworld.

If you liked this game, check out:

• Command & Conquer: Generals
• Earth 2140
• Master of Orion III
• Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds