Hi, I'm playing SM2 on a brand new savegame, no transfer.
After I finish Firekka 4 succesfully (both diplo ships evacuate safely) I ALWAYS end up with the defeat pathway, in the next mission, with Maniac as wingman. All walkthroughs I've checked say that I should be going to Firekka 5, but I can't seem to trigger that condition despite succesfully passing all missions without any wingman losses.
Any ideas?

For anyone who runs into the same thing -- use the savegame editor, the bug forces you to lose after every 2 missions no matter what.