from the gravity of the planet/station, the SPEC drive will “ramp up”, and the player's ship will stretch and star streaks will appear, until the player's spacecraft slows down due to gravity, or the player deactivates the SPEC drive. To travel to different star systems, the player must obtain a jump drive and then to go to weak points in space known as jump points. When the player's ship is close enough to the jump point, the player can activate the jump drive and "jump" to another solar system in a few seconds. In typical solar systems, there is an assortment of jump points, each point leading to another system. The player may have to go through multiple systems/jump points to get to the destination system. For missions that span across multiple systems, the instructions for which jump points to go to are displayed on the HUD, but if the player wants to reach an area regardless of any missions, the navigation computer can be used to plot the correct course. Mission types Cargo: Transportation of items of the most diverse kinds, ranging from foodstuffs to political prisoners—a dangerous trade, as authorities will detect illegal cargo and pirates will attempt to pry it off unsuspecting haulers. Bounty: Players are advised to be careful in their choice of targets, as every faction has their own friends and enemies. Patrol: A number of targets within a system must be scanned in detail by visiting each in turn. Clean Sweep: Similar to patrol, but any hostiles encountered on the way must be eliminated. Defense: A target in the system is being attacked by enemy forces. The player must eliminate the attacking forces and keep the target from being destroyed. The target can range from a small merchant ship being attacked by some light forces, to a space station being destroyed by a large, well planned attack force. Rescue: The player must rescue a downed pilot, and will be rewarded with credits. The player must proceed to a location, tractor the pilot's escape pod in and carry him to a destination planet. However, the escape pod is usually in a battle zone, and the player is warned to exercise caution in these missions. Upgrades Vega Strike includes a variety of upgrades for the player's ship. The player may use earned money to buy upgrades to improve the spacecraft's performance. Upgrades include repair, repair systems