Unlike the main Wing Commander game, The Secret Missions expansion doesn’t feature any kind of dynamic campaign branching. What it does have is a two mission “Retreat” system which involves covering the Tiger’s Claw as she retreats back to the Vega Sector. You get to do this in a Scimitar, with Maniac as your wingman. This system can be triggered by failing pretty much any system save for the final one. Of course I saved it for almost last, as the bad ending contrast to the winning system.
Mission One turns out to be a pretty standard patrol. Opposition isn’t too bad. Honestly, both mission failures prior to my successful recorded run were caused by friendly fire from Maniac. Normally I consider wingman deaths to be a reason to restart a mission, but in this case, I’m willing to make an exception. Someday, in some game, Maniac will be a slightly more reliable pilot.
Interestingly enough, my go to source for all things Wing Commander, namely, the Wing Commander CIC, doesn’t have anything for the retreat missions.