I think the real problem with this mission has to do with the natural gameplay changes that occurred between FS1 and FS2. As many times as I played this mission in the original game, I don't remember the Plato ever surviving for more than 30 seconds or so; the escape pod usually jettisoned soon before it was destroyed. However, for whatever reason, the Shaitans in the FS2 version of the mission don't seem to get the job done, and so we're left with a half-dead Plato sitting alone in a jump node. Goob, would it be possible to just throw a self-destruct event in the mission, so that its behavior matches that of the original version?