The thing I remember the most from TIE Fighter was that the Galactic Empire was not portrayed as the all-evil juggernaut of most other games. In TIE Fighter you established border stations, inspected civilian traffic, fought pirates, defended research facilities, and ended a civil war. The Empire, from the TIE Fighter point of view, was a just guardian of law and order.

I'm thinking a few maps like that in First Strike couldn't hurt. An extraction mission where you are to rescue a hostage from terrorists, a map where you are to raid a pirate platform in space, and so on. Or something like taking out a military facility because the build-up there is violating some seize-fire agreement. Just a thought.