It is 40 years after the combined forces of Earth and the S'pht Kr sacked the Pfhor system. You were put back into stasis after your legendary battles at Tau Ceti and L'howon. You've been recalled from stasis to help the UESC on a mission of utmost importance. You are aboard the UESC Leviathan and headed towards the Kolana system. Hobbes, the onboard AI, informs you of the situation. The Pfhor are back. So are the S'pht. More importantly, there is a new player in town, an AI called Wanda.
The Pfhor were the first to detect an unknown presence as extra accesses and transmissions in their computer net. Then an AI on one of their ships went rogue and the ship disappeared. Evidently, a Pfhor managed to escape the ship in a shuttle pod and send a wide-band transmission. As best we can translate, "Jjaro AI... Wanda... taking ship to Ko.." was all the bugger managed before its shuttlecraft was destroyed. Our garrison on the Pfhor homeworld was able to pick up the information and send it on to us before they were destroyed by a Pfhor revolt. Evidently, the Pfhor were rebuilding their forces in hidden installations in neighboring systems and they took this opportunity to gain an advantage.
After the incident, we examined our computer records and also detected strange access patterns in our database. By examining the routing, we were able to trace the origins to the Kolana system. The Pfhor also managed to trace Wanda to the Kolana system and sent a new fleet which arrived in the system a couple years ahead of us.
Your mission is to secure the Jjaro AI, Wanda, for Earth. If you cannot secure it, you are ordered to destroy it. We cannot let its knowledge fall into enemy hands. No doubt the Pfhor are under similar orders. The S'pht who have somehow also learned of Wanda have also arrived in the system and are probably looking for information on their origins. You are to avoid conflict with the S'pht unless necessary.
If you're stuck at a puzzle, check out the hints and solutions page.
If you find any bugs in the scenario, please send me email at jhancock@ri.cmu.edu. I will try to fix them in an update.
A few people have complained of crashes on level 4, "Freudian Slip". This is NOT a bug. If the game crashes on you, it means the Wanda shapes file isn't being loaded -- select it in the Marathon Environment setting (you may need to deselect it first, and then reselect it).
A bug was discovered recently (Jun. 15) on the third level (Pfhorget About It!). Near the very end of the level, when you dump the engine coolant (the pink goo), you need to be sure that you hit the slave switch on the southern pillar only once. Otherwise, you won't be able to exit the level. I have corrected the bug in the version on this site, but the version at the hyperarchive is old and still contains the bug.
If you downloaded the scenario before April 28, 1998, there was another bug. Please download a newer version.