I'm with BlueFlame on having a pre-mission in there. Since the Gamma Draconis-to-Capella jump node was recently the site of a blockade to stop the NTF, it stands to reason that some of those same fleet assets are still in place. The same warships and RBCs along with a few other ships could represent the allied fleet. However, to avoid attacks from its less-well-defended flanks, have the Sathanas escorted by say two Liliths, a Rakshasa, and a Moloch (with the extra SRed beam). As the Sath approaches the blockade, the player is charged with flying heavy assault to first help deal with these escorts, basically de-beaming them as allied ships try the flanking attacks. Once the escort ships are dealt with (or nearing so), the Sath enters firing range and starts taking out the fleet ahead, but the RBCs are inflicting damage too. The Sath then sends bombers to take them out, so the player has to protect the RBCs from these attacks, as well as try to protect the Hedetet, which the Saths beams are avoiding for scripting purposes. Eventually, as more and more ships are knocked out, Command realizes that they can't keep the Sath from jumping to Capella, so they order your wing to board the Hedetet through the fighterbay, where you're swapped into pre-armed Bakhas and are sent out via scramble mission right back into the main Bearbating mission.
You'll witness the final destruction of the allied blockade at the very beginning, including a disabled Hedetet, and the Phoenicia running like scared babies as the Sath gives them massive hull damage. While you were switching ships, assault fighters from the Sath have taken down or are in the final process of taking out the RBCs, and the player must do the traditional de-clawing of the Sath, while the flank-attacking allied ships try to harass it but get a face-full of its ass-SRed. Once the Sath jumps, you could still have the Beleth arrive afterwards, but instead of trying to follow the Sath into Capella, it tries to keep any allied ships from following, so you have to assist in taking down the destroyer both to keep the remaining warships form becoming toast, and to clear the node so you can follow and assist the Colossus.
For the High Noon mission, have the Colossus delayed, so you have to cover other surviving warships including the badly-damaged Phoenicia, as they attempt to wolfpack the Sath. You could even include the Psamtik, which launches additional escort fighters. When the Colossus arrives, the other warships try to take a defensive position around it. As stated by many, the preferred mission type would involve more in the way of defensive of the fleet, rather than the door-wide-open offensive of the original. You could even have it that the player has returned to the Psamtik and switches into a heavy assault or interceptor. On the other hand, once the Sath's main guns are down, it could potentially try to pump more power through its AAA guns, turning them into LReds or perhaps even an SRed or two. That would necessitate the player doing surgical strikes on the Sath to knock these out, lest the fleet suffer. Such a mission would be better if the player retained the Bakha.
Oh, and by this run-down, you can deduce that I voted for option #1.
Oh, and as a suggestion for the title of this mini-campaign: "Tooth and Nail"
Poll
