You start the game at Dillinger Starbase in the Europa Sector. You own a Pegasus and an Orion. The Orion is equipped with a Glint Lt. Laser, Lead Target Assistant, and an Afterburner. The Pegasus is unequipped. Available to you from the hangar are: Glint Lt. and Flare Med. lasers, Tiger missiles, Lead Target Assistants, Combat Scanners, and Afterburners.

When you consult the Job board, there are certain missions available to you. In most cases, there will be several missions available to you at a time. Where that happens, I have put them in order of how I think is the most effective. There's ALWAYS a "Ring Training Course" available, and in Sol sector, or after you sign up with GalSpan or the Bora, there's also "Combat Training". Combat training ALWAYS pays 100 cr.

Instructor Training (AGT - 700 cr.)
If this is your first time playing the game, take this mission. It's (virtually) impossible to die here, and gives you some good training. Otherwise, skip it.

Escort Mining Vessel (AGT - 5600 cr.)
Again, very simple, but you must take it. Head to Luna. Destroy the CMI Darts. Head to Ganymede. Destroy the CMI Darts. You pick up several assistant ships in Luna. It's possible to do this blindfolded.
New Items: Tesla EMP missiles and Sunspot missiles

Security Breach (AGT - 4200 cr.)
Go to the Kuiper Belt, and destroy the spy probes, spy drone frigate, and the CMI darts. Again, you get a group of fighter assistants.
New Items: Chatter Cannons and Hunter Torpedoes
(Note: Chatter cannons recharge after every mission, and ALL torpedoes are powered by the laser reserve with infinite shots. Remember this!)

Investigate Mine Field (AGT - 4900 cr.)
Head back to Kuiper. Destroy the space mines. After that, a luxury liner will be attacked by pirates. You don't have to save them, but it's really easy. Star Patrol will show up after a minute, and help destroy the pirates (Unless you're quick enough to finish before they get there.) Getting bored yet? Don't worry, it's about to get more exciting.
New Items: Afterburner Reserve and Deimos Hvy. Laser

Quarantine Compromised (AGT - 11200 cr.)
Escort the Argoso to Neptune. Disable the two escapee shuttles, and the three Biolith fighters. Make sure you bring Tesla EMP missiles so you can do this. Use lasers to bring the shuttles' shields down a bit, because the shields can take one EMP missile without falling. Incidentally, if you miss with some of your EMP missiles, you can just DESTROY the Biolith fighters... NOT THE SHUTTLES, THOUGH. The Argoso will land at the research facility, and then explode. Star patrol shows up and arrests you. You are tried, convicted, and banished from the Sol sector forever.

Somehow, you have managed to scrape together a career. You start in this sector with a Mako ship (Completely unequipped) and 6000 credits. In the hangar there are Glint Lt. Lasers, Spire Rockets, and Lead Target Assistants.

Hospital Emergency (Alpha Control - 11025 cr.)
The Frigate Blackwell had a malfunction in the Scrap Yards. Proceed there, and destroy its Powerplant. You win if the frigate stops before plowing into the asteroids. Two reasons for taking this mission first: Lots of $$$ and you don't have to fight anyone, allowing you to get used to your new ship.
New Items: Lock on Warning

Hub Escort (Alpha Control - 5460 cr.)
Escort the Venetian to Independence Base. Two Darts and a Piranha will attack you. Destroy them. When you do so, nail the Piranha first, or it will shoot endless missiles at you while you get the Darts.
New Wingman: Pixie Kerral

The Blockade (Bora - 8750 cr.)
Protect the Dromedary against a whack of GalSpan (Spanner) ships. If by some miracle you get the other two through, you get a bonus of 0 cr. That's right, nada. So don't worry about them too much. PS: I suggest you hit the Pegasi first, they're really weak in this mission and will blow up with just a couple of hits from your lasers.
New Items: Afterburner

GalSpan Escort (GalSpan - 4060 cr.)
Escort the freighter Hesperides to Hera Sector. Destroy the two daggers. On the way back, you will see Mishka Shaw being attacked by pirates. If you save her life, she will be available as a wingman. (It's worth it. She's the best wingman until MUCH later on. Set your game to "Easy" mode if you have to! [Press F11, then left or right])
New Wingman: Mishka Shaw

This is where you decide if you want to take the GalSpan side, or the Bora side. The pros and cons are listed in the FAQ section. Depending on which side you take, there are different missions available, although some missions are available to both.

I do recommend (and so does the game manual) that you exit the game at this point, and copy & paste it into a new slot so that you can play both sides of the storyline. Also, the items currently available will not be the same. Depending on which side you choose, some items are no longer available. I will do a COMPLETE listing after the first mission of each side.

Because you will be able to jump from sector to sector, I will be adding a single letter after the credit amount to tell you which sector the mission is in. (H for Hub, and so on.) Where it says "New Items" I've decided not to write what bases it's available at, because the file's long enough already, and it tells you in-game. In some cases, there are also duplicate entries. In that case, I have put the item in the first available mission offering them, and ignored it in the later missions.