Does this wording mean that the Kilrathi pilot is still alive?

“I would like to thank... Pilot of the Imperial Claw Haga Kaligara for his personal diary and flight logs of the opening strike of the war... Without their help this study would not have been possible. ”

Action Stations, FOREWORD

These words come from the acknowledgements in the foreword by the author Col. Wilhelm Schwarzmont in the story world. You could read this foreword as a part of the book sample here: https://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625795588/9781625795588.htm

Sorry, my English reading skills may be inadequate, so I'm not quite sure if the indication here is that the pilot himself provided those diaries and logs. If this wording indicates that this pilot still survives, it is indeed significant and interesting.
 
I am a native speaker of English (US style).

I read the linked foreword. To me, it indicates that pilot is still alive. Generally, only living people or existing organizations are thanked for their help.
 
Yeah, I think that's the clear implication. When you say you "would like to thank," that suggests that the people being thanked are alive in order to receive those thanks. Otherwise, you would phrase it in a way such as dedicating something to a person's memory. Likewise, when it says "without their help," then that means that they were at least alive in the recent run up to publication of the thing in order to help.
 
Thanks so much!

Now I admire the literary technique in this novel all the more.

Action Stations, in the form of a novel-within-a-novel, it's main chapters focus on the events around the McAuliffe ambush, the earliest large event directly portrayed in the seven official novels in the timeline, while the era of the foreword is the latest time of the seven official novels (there is no WCP official novel). So this book actually has an oversized time span. And I think this foreword of less than a thousand words carries a pretty huge amount of information.

P.S. Haga Kaligara... A Kilrah Empire pilot who participated in the McAuliffe ambush, survived more than 35 years to see the end of the war... I guess he is extremely lucky like Maniac. And judging by his willingness to be thanked for providing his personal diary and flight logs, it seems that, at least after the war ended, he doesn't have any extreme animosity towards the Terrans.
 
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Expand my mind. Could I regard Haga Kaligara the Maniac of the Kilrathi side? 🥳

Well, I've concocted a fan fiction scenario:

"A rookie test pilot, survived in the brutal elimination of the Imperial Flying Academy, visited a fighter development facility of Ki'ra clan with great anticipation, and almost caused a trouble or even an accident. Because of the Empire's brutal education and his own simple-mind, he almost hurt one of the core development technicians on day one, but fortunately... the thing ended in a farce."
 
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That's a good one!

Haga Kaligara is likely a reference to Mitsuo Fuchida, a Japanese pilot who fought at Pearl Harbor and who came to the United States after the war and shared his experiences. He helped provide the Japanese perspective for the book At Dawn We Slept, which is the basis for Action Stations.

 
It means I like your fan fiction scenario! :)

The Faraday Rebellion is not ever explained. It is part of a rhetorical technique that Dr. Forstchen likes to use a lot where he has a character mention several real events from history followed by one or two 'future' events. So, it's something the characters in 2634 consider to be part of history but that hasn't happened yet for us in 2020.

I wrote an update about the technique a few years ago: https://www.wcnews.com/news/2017/02/26/the-art-of-the-sci-fi-list
 
It means I like your fan fiction scenario! :)

Wow! Thanks sooooo much! I will see if I can implement it within the visual novel demo in the future.

Actually I would like to expand this part:

"If such individuals, even if they were soulless, were not offered some hope, some semblance of life without fear, he knew that they would not work well."

and even this part:

"He had often argued with himself that it was for just such a pragmatic reason that he wanted to end the constant series of death threats, punishments, and brutally arbitrary executions. And yet there was another side that of late he was forced to admit too…there was something inside of him that pitied the conquered. Some of the races had fought honorably and well, some were obviously more intelligent but had lacked the military prowess to stand against Kilrah. Now they were slaves, and in his heart he wondered if this course was necessarily the right one for long-term survival across the eons."
 
Something else for your fan fiction - the name "Haga Kaligara" itself is telling. No honorifics - not even nar. Probably unintentional, but it would suggest a kilra'hra pilot. Not common but not without precedent in WC canon (Najji Ragitagha comes to mind as the prime example there).
 
Haga Kaligara is likely a reference to Mitsuo Fuchida, a Japanese pilot who fought at Pearl Harbor and who came to the United States after the war and shared his experiences. He helped provide the Japanese perspective for the book At Dawn We Slept, which is the basis for Action Stations.
Which, of course, opens a really fun can of worms - what if this Haga Kaligara was as truthful as Mitsuo Fuchida? 😲

Obviously, there's not going to be any more WC novels, but if there were, I'd really love to see Forstchen take that concept and run with it, writing another novel in which we learn that actually, everything we thought we knew about the Kilrathi side in Action Stations was wrong. I always like when an in-universe source is intentionally invalidated, or at least made doubtful by another in-universe source, so rather than having an accidentally inconsistent canon, you wind up with an intentionally uncertain canon.
 
In fact, I've even conceived of whether there's a kind of clue that could tie this plot to the Battle of Karing, like a Varni family with high tech.

Of course, a story of this scale is far beyond my ability, 😅 just imagining some bits and pieces of dialogues with exaggerated lines in teenager anime.

Edit: It is better to optimise the lines beofre making them public.

P.S. I came across an interesting thing recently. When I was starting to think about how to design Harga's portrait, a friend recommended me the character Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender as a reference. At first, I simply looked at the character's appearance and other basics. But when I actually finished two portraits, another friend who received my artwork and background description immediately said it reminded him of Iroh! Then I started watching the anime and realized that Iroh and Harga do have a lot in common: they are both renowned warriors, all of whom began to reflect on the meaning of war after losing their own children, all of whom loves art, all of whom are tutors who have changed the lives of their students, with the difference that Iroh himself is the older brother of the Phoenix Emperor (the voice actor for the Phoenix Emperor is Mark Hamill), while the noble youth he teaches is the son of the Emperor. Is there a common historical or literary archetype for such kind of characters? Thanks!
 
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He helped provide the Japanese perspective for the book At Dawn We Slept, which is the basis for Action Stations.

I did some initial extended reading after seeing your response. 🤝 I noticed that there is some controversy surrounding the book At Dawn We Slept. So, going back to Action Stations, you mentioned its basis is At Dawn We Slept, so are there now enough clues and reasons to suggest that Action Stations is in a way to bring a sense of controversy to the readers? Or it’s just providing another sort of immersion other than 'sci-fi list', and At Dawn We Slept is just a source of general inspiration? OK, I mean, could I regard the main Chapters of Action Stations reliable source for the WC series' timeline and worldview? 😐

Thanks!

P.S. It is possible to finish my fan fiction scenario if I could see Haga Kaligara as a Maniac Kat or someone like Patrick Colasour (a comedic character form Gundam 00, and he is in a different camp from the protagonists, but survived all the encounters with his MS damaged, and successfully married his superior), but if he should be someone like Mitsuo Fuchida... such a serious historical story is far beyond my capabilities. 😭
 
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Which, of course, opens a really fun can of worms - what if this Haga Kaligara was as truthful as Mitsuo Fuchida? 😲

Well, I guess maybe another in-universe source would be a better way? For instance, another Terran author's novel, or even a play by Melek's team 😅 .

P.S. Even though it's a long way from serious creation... but in my demo, I'm trying to portray a segment of Team Melek's adolescent version of Savior Blair Saga, or put the WC4.123106 as an in-universe underground novel. 😅
 
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Something else for your fan fiction - the name "Haga Kaligara" itself is telling. No honorifics - not even nar. Probably unintentional, but it would suggest a kilra'hra pilot. Not common but not without precedent in WC canon (Najji Ragitagha comes to mind as the prime example there).

Thanks! Got it. Actually, I've already assumed he's neither from Kiranka nor from Ki'ra. Could I have more information of kilra'hra?
 
Hmm...the only real source I know of a physical description of kilra'hra off the top of my head comes from the opening scenes of Freedom Flight:

Ralgha had stood in the center of this room for over five hours now, answering every question placed to him, patiently managing to keep his temper despite the taunts of the interrogators. That was their job, after all; to make him lose his temper, to prove that he was a traitor by angry word or action. They dared not lay paw to him; he was too high of rank for lerkrath, interrogation by drugs, or kalkrath, interrogation by torture. Only the Emperor himself could decree questioning a Thrak’hra lord by needle or knife. But they could deliberately try to provoke him, to invoke the killing-rage that lay close to the surface of every Kilrathi’s mind—and if he lost control even for an instant, if he neglected to remain in the military-submissive posture, if he forgot that he was, temporarily, the lowest-ranked Kilrathi in the room, he would prove that he was a traitor. Even now, the two burly Imperial guards watched him carefully, in case he should try to make any kind of movement—either to escape or harm Jahkai, the Kalrahr of Imperial Security, or to make an attempt on the life of the other, even more important Kilrathi in this room, the one seated in the shadows.

Jahkai was watching him with eyes narrowed to slits with his concentration. As well he might. There was more to this than the questioning of a possible traitor; more than a conflict between two male Kilrathi. Ralgha had hated Jahkai since they had first met years ago.

The lowborn brute had pretended to noble airs at a troop review, bringing shame on the highborn present, that he had dared to imitate his betters. And there was no hiding the fact that Jahkai was lowborn; one merely had to look at him, and see the mottled, mingled colors of his coarse fur marking him as
Kilra’hra, a commoner. So very unlike Ralgha’s own sleek pelt, bright with the colours and sharply distinct patterns of one of the highest-born families in the Empire. Even the blunt shape of Jahkai’s muzzle, the flatness of his head, and the blunted teeth of one who was not a hunter showed his lowborn breeding.


Ralgha had repaid that shame by shaming Jahkai in his turn, making a mockery of him, then laughing in his face, not realizing then that Jahkai was Kalrahr of Imperial Security for the entire planetary system of Ghorah Khar . . .

Don't know if that's helpful at all to you; guessing it will be, though.
 
Don't know if that's helpful at all to you; guessing it will be, though.

Thanks! That's really useful!

I should have read this chapter in earnest, but that would have probably put me in a bad mood this weekend, or maybe even longer. I'm not sure why these types of story put me in a bad mood, especially these days. 🙁

Lately, when looking through that Japanese manual, I've tended to avoid the page of ホッブス大佐 (Hobbusu Taisa). I think there are quite a lot of people who have this complaint, perhaps including the author of WC4.123106. I might need to watch a Maniac plot or listen to Patrick Colasour call out his wife in a silly, sweet way: "Taisa!“ 😌
 
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@capi3101 The 1st draft of Haga Kaligara is here:

HagaKaligara_draft.jpg


This is the old kat version. A retired veteran kat, at home meeting guests.

I am designing a comedic character: commoner born, very good looking when young, happy-go-lucky plus confident, super lucky. Maniac kat. 😅

Models: FF14 Hrothgar, Gundam 00 Patrick Colasour.
 
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From the description (particularly 'mottled and mingled' fur colors), I might suggest a housecat-type coloration. A tortoiseshell type might work pretty well; just a suggestion.

Let me start with a simpler version of the old kat with his mane that has lightened in color as a test. Considering that a commoner's background is unsuitable for noble jewelry, and that saturated reds are also unsuitable, the color palette available is limited.

HagaKaligara.jpg
 
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