Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi
Encyclopedia
Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi is the first sequel in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander
science fiction
space combat simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems
.
Released in 1991, Wing Commander II retains much of the first game's core conventions: an interstellar war between the Terran Confederation and the felinoid
warrior race called the Kilrathi, multiple allies as wingmen, and a wide variety of ships on both sides of the war. However, WCII places a greater emphasis on storytelling, providing various sprite-animated cutscenes and some of the industry's first examples of voice acting
. The storyline is also somewhat less open-ended: the game's campaign tree is much more structured and the player character
can no longer be promoted or awarded medals. Wingmen can no longer be killed during normal gameplay; when their fighters are damaged beyond repair, they eject (though some die in scripted sequences). Finally, because the story is a direct sequel to WC, many Kilrathi ships have names similar to the WC ships they replace (for instance, the "Sartha" replaces the "Salthi", and the Confederation uses an upgraded version of the Rapier medium fighter).
Expansion pack
s Special Operations 1 and 2, were released in 1991 and 1992, respectively, and a stand-alone spin-off, Wing Commander Academy, in 1993. Origin also released a Speech Accessory Pack, which upgraded WCII with pre-recorded voice acting.
are specified by the player. Origin personnel, in these days, called him "Bluehair" after his most defining feature; in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
, his name was changed to Christopher "Maverick" Blair. Blair's claims that some sort of "Kilrathi stealth fighter
" destroyed the Claw are summarily dismissed, especially since his flight data recorder
is damaged. He is court martialed for treason
(reduced to negligence
, without the flight recorder as evidence), demoted to Captain, and branded as "The Coward of K'Tithrak Mang." Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn attempts to force Blair to resign; when Blair refuses, he is transferred to InSystem Security and exiled to Caernarvon Station in the backwater Gwynedd system.
Cut to 2665, ten years later. Blair, flying a patrol, is startled to engage Kilrathi fightercraft in the area. Not long after, Admiral Tolwyn's flagship, the TCS Concordia, shows up on sensors, under heavy attack by a Kilrathi cruiser and her fighters. Blair and his wingman Captain Elizabeth "Shadow" Norwood together save the ship, and he is briefly reunited with some of his friends from the Claw—Colonel Jeannette Devereaux, Lieutenant Colonel Mariko Tanaka, the Kilrathi defector Colonel Ralgha nar Hhallas, Captain Etienne Montclair, and Major Zach Colson—and used to assist in the attack on the Kilrathi cruiser, before being packaged back to Caernarvon. Colonel Devereaux requested a transfer for Blair to the Concordia but on the flight back, Blair states to Shadow that he probably won't get reassigned due to his past with Admiral Tolwyn. But Blair and Shadow have barely returned when the Concordia is attacked again, and an explosion on the flight deck has crippled her ability to launch fighters. In the ensuing battle, Shadow is killed, Blair triumphs, and Tolwyn, ever-mindful of the need for good pilots, takes The Coward of K'Tithrak Mang onto his flagship.
Blair's time there is not particularly easy. At least one pilot, Captain Dirk "Stingray" Wright, believes the slander spread about the Claw's destruction, and he and Blair's stauncher supporters (Tanaka, nar Hhallas, Devereaux) are frequently at odds. The flight deck explosion, a bizarre murder, and radio transmission records suggests that there is a traitor aboard the Concordia. Tolwyn frequently credits Blair's successes to his wingmen (particularly nar Hhallas). And though Maverick encounters Kilrathi Strakha stealth fighters several times, his black box always manages to malfunction or be destroyed. His repeated claims regarding the invisible ships frustrate Devereaux, who despite her belief that he didn't have anything to do with the destruction of the Tiger's Claw does not believe his statements about the cloaked ships.
Not long into the campaign, Blair's oldest friend Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka approaches him with terrible news: the Kilrathi have her fiance Phillip. She was captured some ten years earlier when the Tiger's Claw defended the Firekka system from Kilrathi attack, and the Kilrathi are demanding her betrayal in exchange for his release. Even worse, Phillip is being held on the captured Heaven's Gate starbase, which Concordia has orders to destroy. In the end, Blair and Tanaka are assigned to the strike, but sabotage cripples Spirit's plane. With no recourse, she rams the station, destroying it, her fiance and herself in one herculean explosion. The news is not all bad, though: shared grief over their friend draws Blair and Jeannette "Angel" Devereaux into a budding romance.
Despite tragedy and setback, the tide begins to turn. Maverick and Angel fly a critical mission in which they trace a Kilrathi destroyer back to the K'Tithrak Mang, placing its location for the first time in the history of the Enigma Campaign. Blair is finally able to clear his name when he and Zach "Jazz" Colson engage Strakha stealth fighters and return, flight recorders intact, to tell the tale. Following an altercation with Angel when he reveals classified information he should not know, Jazz reveals that he, in fact, is the traitor who has been responsible for the message leaks, sabotages and murders, Blair is able to apprehend him. And, finally taking matters into his own hands, Blair flies a single-handed strike against the K'tithrak Mang, destroying it and defeating Imperial Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka in combat. If the campaign has not gone so well, Concordia jumps back to Gwynedd and Blair destroys a Kilrathi invasion fleet preventing a disastrous strike against Terra
.
ending involves Blair destroying the K'tithrak Mang, the newly-promoted Colonel Blair, along with Col. Ralgha "Hobbes" nar Hhallas, is scheduled for a transfer to the "Special Operations" division of Intelligence, under Col. Taggart, who is Chief Field Officer of Intelligence and Special Operations in the Enigma Sector. Their transfers are delayed, however, by increasing Kilrathi presence in the Pembroke System, including the brand-new Gothri-class heavy fighter; even worse, the Rigel Supply Depot is attacked. ...By Confederation ships, which open fire on Blair when he arrives to investigate.
The hostile fighters are from the TCS Gettysburg, a Waterloo-class cruiser. She was stationed in the N'Tanya system, where a Kilrathi colony has been undergoing a rebellion against the Empire. Loyalist Kilrathi citizens were allowed to leave N'Tanya peacefully, but the Gettysburg's skipper, Commodore Cain, ordered his pilots to open fire on their transports. The entire flight group, led by Wing Commander Col. Ransom, Lt. Col. Poelma, and Lt. Jason Bondarevsky, mutinied against the order to kill innocent civilians, and Cain was dispatched back to Confed HQ. Unfortunately, the mutineers soon parted ways: Ransom wanted to live as a pirate, while Poelma and Bondarevsky were all for returning to Confed. It was Ransom's group captured the Rigel depot; Poelma and Bondarevsky, in the meanwhile, have been promised pardons by Confed C-in-C. Blair is assigned to bring them back to the Concordia and destroy the Rigel depot. In doing so, he gets a chance to try out the Fleet's newest torpedo bomber, the YA-18A Crossbow, which the Gettysburg was field-testing. (The returning Gettysburg crew was acquitted, and Bondarevsky in fact promoted and decorated for his integrity.)
Taggart arrives aboard the Bonnie Heather and retrieves Blair and nar Hhallas, as well as Major Edmond, the Concordia's communications officer, for their Special Operations duties, which will take place on Olympus Station in the Ghorah Khar system. Like N'Tanya, Ghorah Khar is in rebellion, and Taggart's Special Operations involve helping these rebels succeed, in the form of contributions of leadership, pilots and matériel
. Blair also helps intercept a Loyalist dead drop
, replacing the invasion plans contained within with Confed-developed plans that will lead the Kilrathi fleet into an ambush. Unfortunately, the Kilrathi arrive in far more force than anticipated, and Maverick and Hobbes fly several strikes against these attack groups.
At this point comes an unexpected complication: Taggart is ambushed at a jump point and the Heather crippled. All seems lost when another flight of Kilrathi ships jumps in... But they start shooting the first flight! Blair and Hobbes arrives, drive them off, and rescue an ejected Kilrathi pilot to see if they can get some answers. This ejected pilot turns out to be none other than Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka: the second flight, he explains, was an assassination attempt led by Khasra, a cousin of Thrakhath, in a bid for the throne of Kilrah. Though Thrakhath is imprisoned in the brig
, a power failure allows him to escape; he grabs Hobbes's Crossbow and sorties out to avenge himself upon Khasra. Blair, attempting to retrieve him, is forced to help out, and the war's two best pilots together make short work of the Kilrathi rebels. Thrakhath, though, escapes.
The remaining Kilrathi fleet attempts to destroy Olympus Station once and for all; Olympus's flight group is already seriously thinned, and their communications have been jammed. Blair, leading the defense, knows his chances are grim... Until a group of pilots from the Gettysburg (with Bondarevsky announcing their presence to Blair), sent along by a concerned Admiral Tolwyn, saves the day. With Ghorah Khar securely in Confederation hands, the N'Tanya, K'arakh and Shariha colonies manage to successfully rebel against the Empire. Unfortunately, Thrakhath, with tons of military intelligence in his head, takes advantage of the fact that the Enigma Sector fleets are distracted with Ghorah Khar and captures Deneb Sector Command in less than six hours.
The Mandarins begin transmitting propaganda movies, specifically the hijacking of several Terran freighters. The raids are quite clearly led by Zach Colson. The crews of the freighters are eventually traded for several Mandarin prisoners. Even worse, Thrakhath's ambitions are realized when a Mandarin traitor sets off a bomb on the Concordia's flight deck and steals a Morningstar. The traitor, Maria Grimaldi, heads for Ayer's Rock; clever deployment of Kilrathi patrols prevent Maverick and Maniac from following her.
Deciding that it's time for some cover agents of their own, Paladin takes over the Gamal Gan. He renames it the Grimalkin and transfers Maverick and Maniac back to Special Ops. Hiding two Morningstars aboard the Grimalkin, the three infiltrate the Ayer system. The Morningstar's torpedoes are supplemented by a new weapon: the "Mace" tactical nuclear missile. Though unguided, it can be detonated manually by the launching pilot, and does splash damage
to whatever's in range. Minx makes it to an escape pod, but escape pods are not enough to prevent radiation poisoning
. But Jazz stole her Morningstar, giving Maverick the opportunity to shoot him down before returning to the Concordia. Finally, in a humorous scene, Maniac's Morningstar, which broke down just after launch for the mission against Jazz, is seen drifting and deserted in space—evidently neither Blair nor Paladin cared to rescue him. (Maniac returns, hale and hearty, in the next game in the series, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger.) Unfortunately, Thrakhath once again turns defeat into victory, by savaging the 6th Battle Fleet; the Confederation is forced to retreat, once again, from the Enigma sector.
The game received 5 out of 5 stars in 1992 in Dragon
.
Wing Commander (franchise)
Wing Commander is a video game media franchise consisting of space combat simulation computer games from Origin Systems, Inc., an animated television series, a feature film, a collectible card game, a series of novels, and action figures...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
space combat simulator franchise of computer games, produced by Origin Systems
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004...
.
Released in 1991, Wing Commander II retains much of the first game's core conventions: an interstellar war between the Terran Confederation and the felinoid
Felidae
Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the thirteen terrestrial families in the order Carnivora, although the three families of marine mammals comprising the superfamily pinnipedia are as carnivorous as the...
warrior race called the Kilrathi, multiple allies as wingmen, and a wide variety of ships on both sides of the war. However, WCII places a greater emphasis on storytelling, providing various sprite-animated cutscenes and some of the industry's first examples of voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
. The storyline is also somewhat less open-ended: the game's campaign tree is much more structured and the player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
can no longer be promoted or awarded medals. Wingmen can no longer be killed during normal gameplay; when their fighters are damaged beyond repair, they eject (though some die in scripted sequences). Finally, because the story is a direct sequel to WC, many Kilrathi ships have names similar to the WC ships they replace (for instance, the "Sartha" replaces the "Salthi", and the Confederation uses an upgraded version of the Rapier medium fighter).
Expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
s Special Operations 1 and 2, were released in 1991 and 1992, respectively, and a stand-alone spin-off, Wing Commander Academy, in 1993. Origin also released a Speech Accessory Pack, which upgraded WCII with pre-recorded voice acting.
Wing Commander II
The year 2656. The TCS Tiger's Claw, pride of the Terran Confederation's fleet, is on campaign in the Enigma sector, near the Kilrathi sector headquarters, the K'tithrak Mang starbase. In a sudden attack, it is lost with all hands, save a few pilots who had been transferred off, and one who was out on patrol: the player's character, whose name and call signCall sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
are specified by the player. Origin personnel, in these days, called him "Bluehair" after his most defining feature; in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger is the third main game in Chris Roberts' Wing Commander science fiction space combat simulation video game series, developed and released by Origin Systems...
, his name was changed to Christopher "Maverick" Blair. Blair's claims that some sort of "Kilrathi stealth fighter
Stealth Fighter
Stealth Fighter is an action film released in 1999. The film stars Ice-T, Costas Mandylor, Erika Eleniak, Sarah Dampf, William Sadler, Ernie Hudson, and Andrew Divoff.-Film synopsis:...
" destroyed the Claw are summarily dismissed, especially since his flight data recorder
Flight data recorder
A flight data recorder is an electronic device employed to record any instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. It is a device used to record specific aircraft performance parameters...
is damaged. He is court martialed for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
(reduced to negligence
Negligence
Negligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...
, without the flight recorder as evidence), demoted to Captain, and branded as "The Coward of K'Tithrak Mang." Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn attempts to force Blair to resign; when Blair refuses, he is transferred to InSystem Security and exiled to Caernarvon Station in the backwater Gwynedd system.
Cut to 2665, ten years later. Blair, flying a patrol, is startled to engage Kilrathi fightercraft in the area. Not long after, Admiral Tolwyn's flagship, the TCS Concordia, shows up on sensors, under heavy attack by a Kilrathi cruiser and her fighters. Blair and his wingman Captain Elizabeth "Shadow" Norwood together save the ship, and he is briefly reunited with some of his friends from the Claw—Colonel Jeannette Devereaux, Lieutenant Colonel Mariko Tanaka, the Kilrathi defector Colonel Ralgha nar Hhallas, Captain Etienne Montclair, and Major Zach Colson—and used to assist in the attack on the Kilrathi cruiser, before being packaged back to Caernarvon. Colonel Devereaux requested a transfer for Blair to the Concordia but on the flight back, Blair states to Shadow that he probably won't get reassigned due to his past with Admiral Tolwyn. But Blair and Shadow have barely returned when the Concordia is attacked again, and an explosion on the flight deck has crippled her ability to launch fighters. In the ensuing battle, Shadow is killed, Blair triumphs, and Tolwyn, ever-mindful of the need for good pilots, takes The Coward of K'Tithrak Mang onto his flagship.
Blair's time there is not particularly easy. At least one pilot, Captain Dirk "Stingray" Wright, believes the slander spread about the Claw
Not long into the campaign, Blair's oldest friend Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka approaches him with terrible news: the Kilrathi have her fiance Phillip. She was captured some ten years earlier when the Tiger's Claw defended the Firekka system from Kilrathi attack, and the Kilrathi are demanding her betrayal in exchange for his release. Even worse, Phillip is being held on the captured Heaven's Gate starbase, which Concordia has orders to destroy. In the end, Blair and Tanaka are assigned to the strike, but sabotage cripples Spirit's plane. With no recourse, she rams the station, destroying it, her fiance and herself in one herculean explosion. The news is not all bad, though: shared grief over their friend draws Blair and Jeannette "Angel" Devereaux into a budding romance.
Despite tragedy and setback, the tide begins to turn. Maverick and Angel fly a critical mission in which they trace a Kilrathi destroyer back to the K'Tithrak Mang, placing its location for the first time in the history of the Enigma Campaign. Blair is finally able to clear his name when he and Zach "Jazz" Colson engage Strakha stealth fighters and return, flight recorders intact, to tell the tale. Following an altercation with Angel when he reveals classified information he should not know, Jazz reveals that he, in fact, is the traitor who has been responsible for the message leaks, sabotages and murders, Blair is able to apprehend him. And, finally taking matters into his own hands, Blair flies a single-handed strike against the K'tithrak Mang, destroying it and defeating Imperial Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka in combat. If the campaign has not gone so well, Concordia jumps back to Gwynedd and Blair destroys a Kilrathi invasion fleet preventing a disastrous strike against Terra
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Special Operations 1
Establishing immediately that the canonicalCanon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
ending involves Blair destroying the K'tithrak Mang, the newly-promoted Colonel Blair, along with Col. Ralgha "Hobbes" nar Hhallas, is scheduled for a transfer to the "Special Operations" division of Intelligence, under Col. Taggart, who is Chief Field Officer of Intelligence and Special Operations in the Enigma Sector. Their transfers are delayed, however, by increasing Kilrathi presence in the Pembroke System, including the brand-new Gothri-class heavy fighter; even worse, the Rigel Supply Depot is attacked. ...By Confederation ships, which open fire on Blair when he arrives to investigate.
The hostile fighters are from the TCS Gettysburg, a Waterloo-class cruiser. She was stationed in the N'Tanya system, where a Kilrathi colony has been undergoing a rebellion against the Empire. Loyalist Kilrathi citizens were allowed to leave N'Tanya peacefully, but the Gettysburg
Taggart arrives aboard the Bonnie Heather and retrieves Blair and nar Hhallas, as well as Major Edmond, the Concordia
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
. Blair also helps intercept a Loyalist dead drop
Dead drop
A dead drop or dead letter box is a method of espionage tradecraft used to pass items between two individuals by using a secret location and thus does not require them to meet directly. Using a dead drop permits a Case Officer and his Agent to exchange objects and information while maintaining...
, replacing the invasion plans contained within with Confed-developed plans that will lead the Kilrathi fleet into an ambush. Unfortunately, the Kilrathi arrive in far more force than anticipated, and Maverick and Hobbes fly several strikes against these attack groups.
At this point comes an unexpected complication: Taggart is ambushed at a jump point and the Heather crippled. All seems lost when another flight of Kilrathi ships jumps in... But they start shooting the first flight! Blair and Hobbes arrives, drive them off, and rescue an ejected Kilrathi pilot to see if they can get some answers. This ejected pilot turns out to be none other than Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka: the second flight, he explains, was an assassination attempt led by Khasra, a cousin of Thrakhath, in a bid for the throne of Kilrah. Though Thrakhath is imprisoned in the brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
, a power failure allows him to escape; he grabs Hobbes's Crossbow and sorties out to avenge himself upon Khasra. Blair, attempting to retrieve him, is forced to help out, and the war's two best pilots together make short work of the Kilrathi rebels. Thrakhath, though, escapes.
The remaining Kilrathi fleet attempts to destroy Olympus Station once and for all; Olympus's flight group is already seriously thinned, and their communications have been jammed. Blair, leading the defense, knows his chances are grim... Until a group of pilots from the Gettysburg (with Bondarevsky announcing their presence to Blair), sent along by a concerned Admiral Tolwyn, saves the day. With Ghorah Khar securely in Confederation hands, the N'Tanya, K'arakh and Shariha colonies manage to successfully rebel against the Empire. Unfortunately, Thrakhath, with tons of military intelligence in his head, takes advantage of the fact that the Enigma Sector fleets are distracted with Ghorah Khar and captures Deneb Sector Command in less than six hours.
Special Operations 2
Blair's leave on Akko Base in the Canewdon System is cut short, but he doesn't mind one bit: Zachary "Jazz" Colson, the traitor from Wing Commander 2, has been sentenced to death, and Maverick will be escorting his prison ship. However, a distraction allows the Mandarins, a society of human traitors that Jazz belongs to, to hijack the Bastille and free Jazz. When he returns to the Concordia, Blair discovers that a new squadron has arrived: the Wild Eagles, under command of Todd "Maniac" Marshall, flying the experimental Morningstar heavy fighters. Almost immediately the Morningstars show their problems: their jump drives don't work very well, forcing Blair to jump out and rescue an ejected pilot, Captain Maria "Minx" Grimaldi. She's very thankful for the rescue. Finally, while on patrol, Blair encounters a crippled Kilrathi Dorkathi transport, which surrenders. A Mandarin agent on board reveals that this freighter, the Gamal Gan, was headed to Ayer's Rock, the Mandarins' home base. This is the first indication that the Kilrathi are actively aiding the Mandarins, though the player has known for a while: one of the game's opening scenes shows the Emperor ordering Thrakhath to capture a Morningstar using them.The Mandarins begin transmitting propaganda movies, specifically the hijacking of several Terran freighters. The raids are quite clearly led by Zach Colson. The crews of the freighters are eventually traded for several Mandarin prisoners. Even worse, Thrakhath's ambitions are realized when a Mandarin traitor sets off a bomb on the Concordia
Deciding that it's time for some cover agents of their own, Paladin takes over the Gamal Gan. He renames it the Grimalkin and transfers Maverick and Maniac back to Special Ops. Hiding two Morningstars aboard the Grimalkin, the three infiltrate the Ayer system. The Morningstar's torpedoes are supplemented by a new weapon: the "Mace" tactical nuclear missile. Though unguided, it can be detonated manually by the launching pilot, and does splash damage
Splash damage
Splash damage, also known as radius damage, is a term used in several types of games, most notably in first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer games, to refer to damage taken by players or objects in the area surrounding a point of weapon impact...
to whatever's in range. Minx makes it to an escape pod, but escape pods are not enough to prevent radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
. But Jazz stole her Morningstar, giving Maverick the opportunity to shoot him down before returning to the Concordia. Finally, in a humorous scene, Maniac's Morningstar, which broke down just after launch for the mission against Jazz, is seen drifting and deserted in space—evidently neither Blair nor Paladin cared to rescue him. (Maniac returns, hale and hearty, in the next game in the series, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger.) Unfortunately, Thrakhath once again turns defeat into victory, by savaging the 6th Battle Fleet; the Confederation is forced to retreat, once again, from the Enigma sector.
Wing Commander Academy
With no plot or missions to speak of, this game is modeled as a Confederation Academy simulator, allowing players to create and then fly their own customized missions. Angel, Hobbes and Maniac, along with a new pilot called Lightspeed, are featured as the wingman choices available for the players. The fighters available in the game include all WCII era Confederation fighters as well as most of the Kilrathi ones. Also, a total of two new fighters were introduced: the Confederation Wraith medium fighter and the Kilrathi Jrathek medium fighter.Terran pilots
- Note: pilots are listed in the order they fly on Blair's wing
- Bluehair" aka Christopher "Maverick" Blair: the player character. Gifted with dialogue and more personality than in the original game, Blair emerges as a general 'do-gooder' and an extremely capable pilot. The irony of his "rebellious" callsign is much more pronounced. In the one scene in which he has dialogue (the opening scenes of WCII), he is voiced by series creator Chris Roberts.
- Captain Elizabeth "Shadow" Norwood: Blair's wingman from Caernarvon Station. A capable if uninspired pilot, she is due for retirement in a month, a fact that makes her death just that much more tragic.
- Colonel Ralgha "Hobbes" nar Hhallas: a Kilrathi defector who brought the Ghorah Khar system into the Confederation. His callsign is commonly misconstrued as a reference to a comic strip characterCalvin and HobbesCalvin and Hobbes is a syndicated daily comic strip that was written and illustrated by American cartoonist Bill Watterson, and syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. It follows the humorous antics of Calvin, a precocious and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his...
, but in fact, Hobbes was named after the philosopher. Though initially sceptical of Blair, he eventually becomes one of his strongest advocates. - James "Paladin" Taggart: though not a combat pilot anymore, Blair escorts Paladin's freighter, the Bonnie Heather, on several occasions. Paladin has transferred out of the Space Forces and into Intelligence, where he leads and commissions all manner of secret operations.
- Captain Etienne "Doomsday" Montclair: a descendant of the MāoriMaori languageMāori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
people of New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Doomsday got his cockpit moniker for his pessimistic, gloomy outlook on life: just about everything he ever says has something to do with how he expects the war to kill him at any second. - Lt. Colonel Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka: Blair's first wingmate aboard the Tiger's Claw, and one of his closest friends. Her piloting skills are somewhat hampered by emotional distress, the cause of which she confides to Blair during the course of the story.
- Captain Dirk "Stingray" Wright: a new face, who never served on the Claw, Stingray's initial opinion of Blair is reversed when Maverick and Doomsday defy orders and rescue his ejection pod. Brash and somewhat hot-headed, he is still an excellent pilot. Because his pilot's-wings insignia were found on the murdered Communications Specialist McGuffin, he is initially placed under suspicion.
- Colonel Jeannette "Angel" Devereaux: Angel is the Wing Commander of the Concordia
's flight group. In contrast to her statistics-spouting, generally distant behaviour in the previous game, she has become a much more humanistic character: she acts as a diplomatic buffer between Blair and Admiral Tolwyn's caustic orders and is seen disciplining unruly pilots on several occasions. - Major Zachary "Jazz" Colson: named for his virtuoso talents at the rec room pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, Colson has a dark history. He hails from the Goddard colony, which was lost to Kilrathi attack, which he blames on the Tiger's Claw having delayed in answering the colony's distress call. Colson swore to kill every Claw survivor and joined the Mandarins, a society of human defectors. - First Lieutenant Jason "Bear" Bondarevsky: from unknown pilot to hero, after the Gettysburg
's commander issues an illegal order to kill defenceless Kilrathi. He is introduced in Special Missions 1 and makes later appearances in the Wing Commander novels. - Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall: making his triumphant return to the player's wing, Maniac is now a major, in charge of the prototype Morningstar medium fighters, which will be field-tested off the Concordia.
- Captain Maria "Minx" Grimaldi: a pilot in Maniac's Wild Eagles squadron, she does her best to worm her way into Maverick's heart.
Terran personnel
- Rear Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn: one of the Confederation's best strategists, later described (by a Kilrathi, no less) as the finest fighting admiral of the fleet. A man of first impressions, he initially distrusts Blair, and the two maintain a certain animosity—though also a healthy dose of respect—throughout the rest of their careers. In WCII he seems petty and antagonistic; later excursions portray him as charismatic and heroic.
- Chief Petty Officer Janet "Sparks" McCullough: the lady in charge of making sure Blair's planes are in proper shape, she is also one of Blair's first allies aboard the Concordia. Her evidence helps clear Stingray's name during a murder investigation.
- Major Edmond: the Concordia
's communications officer, who frequently relays orders to Blair during missions.
Kilrathi personnel
- Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka: the grandson of the Kilrathi Emperor and first in line to succeed the throne. A stock villain in WCII, later installments portray him as a capable but overconfident warrior, believing solely in brute force and fear, and showing little respect for the "hairless apes" that thwart him time and again.
- Khasra Redclaw: Thrakhath's cousin and second-in-command, who chafes under the Crown Prince's rule. Blair encounters him in combat several times.
- Rahkti Blooddrinker: Rahkti Bloodrinker pilots a Sartha class light fighter in one of the later missions in the original WCII. He is deadly, fast, and can take a lot of hits.
- Kur: Kur pilots a Grikath Heavy Bomber and is considered to be a major threat. He appears in one of the missions in the original '"WCII, and is difficult to destroy, despite that his slow movement.
Reception
The game received 5 out of 5 stars in 1992 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
.