Intriguing discussion...
I noticed this discussion and thought it was an interesting one worth talking about...
My take on it would probably be most like Striker's...but again, this is a matter of personal preference. Even within the storylines of Wing Commander, you get the feeling that there are those fighting the Kilrathi, but only so far as to end the war...and then there are those who have often taken on the role of avenging angels - after some personal loss due to the war, they see it as their mission to eradicate every member of the entire species. It's really the whole argument on where to draw the line...the only way to be certain that the other side never fights back ever again would be genocide...but in doing that, how does that make you the better side of the conflict? Ideally, things should all boil down to an uneasy truce like what we see at the end of the Kilrathi War where you've got "good guys" and "bad guys" on both sides. Or for any of you Trekkie fans out there, it'd be like in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country where you had the uneasy truce between the Federation and the Klingon Empire...of course there, the intriguing storyline was a joint effort by people on both sides to undermine the whole truce... But going back to the topic at hand...
We get the idea even during the Kilrathi War that it's strictly about war...it's not just about human versus cat. That's one thing I thought was very deep in Wing Commander 2...sure, you'd fly against the Kilrathi for most of the game, but then there were the terrorist acts of the Mandarins, and then eventually events fell into place where you were flying 1-v-1 against the hotshot pilot, Jazz (well self-proclaimed hotshot, at any rate). Now, all the events leading up to that point were done in such a way so as to not endear the character of Colson to the player...but still, the fact remains...it's war, he has information that could undermine your efforts and thus your effectiveness in fighting that war, so you have to shoot him down.
Then there's Wing Commander 4 with the whole Black Lance thing...granted, I too felt at odds with myself for flying against Confederation craft who likely weren't Black Lance, but just people doing their job. But the fact that they blindly followed orders and flew against Blair and the Intrepid with a whole shoot-first, ask-questions-later mentality...it was, as others have said, simply a matter of you or them...you weren't sure who in Confed you could still trust either, so there was no choice. You did what had to be done for the greater good...which is ultimately what we'd all like to think war is about anyway - whether it's fighting for money, equality, patriotism, other ideals, or whatever else...
And I think what underscores this whole "they're not all evil" concept is the destruction of Kilrah. By the time Prophecy roles around, you get the feeling that Blair has some misgivings about the destruction of an entire planet to end a war. Granted, what's done is done...and at the time, it was the only option they saw available to end it. At the time when you were making your way across the surface of Kilrah in your Excalibur moving ever closer to that fault line, maybe it was the graphics of the time or maybe it was all the things that had piled up on you by that point - having lost all the comrades you lost, having lost all the ships the Confederation had lost, having lost Angel, having seen the look of defeat in Tolwyn's eyes and the waning hope in everyone else's...perhaps at that moment as you were flying across the surface of Kilrah like a bat out of hell, it was clear what you had to do. But just like Blair afterwards, I would think you'd be asking yourself for years after that, "did I do the right thing? Was there no other way?"
The Nephilim, by contrast, are a different story altogether. We don't know if there are any civilian bugs, but if you take into account that the Nephilim are intended to be essentially larger versions of modern day insects, it lends credence to the fact that there likely are no civilians (I always envisioned a hive design with a queen, warriors, and workers)...the Nephilim are very like-minded and intent on singular purposes that escape us (unless the designers simply wanted to spin out a shoot-them-all space combat sim without any storyline...which the depth of Prophecy and mystery surrounding the Nephilim would seem to contradict, in my mind). As such, one would have to wonder if the Nephilim could even be seen as individual creatures, or rather like-minded genetically-related grunts doing the bidding of a higher mind. If the latter is the case, then that means the very nature of the Nephilim is, unfortunately, that of cannon fodder, which we almost get the idea of as we fly against entire waves of Nephilim fighters in Prophecy with no necessarily distinct foes (i.e. no true aces with individual identities).
So here, it's a bit of a more confusing question to ask...the question here is - would there be any other way to stop the Nephilim if they were to invade other than simply killing them all? And that's an impossible one to answer.
Individual humans and Kilrathi seem to think independently of the others around them, however...so I think it needs to be on a case-by-case basis. Yes, there are some cats and humans that deserve to die...but I'd still like to think that the majority either want peace or simply to be left alone.
That's the reason the ending of WC3, while spectacular, was so very tragic in hindsight. It's not something you do one day and forget the next...you killed some innocent people who didn't have a chance to voice their opinions, hopes, or dreams about things...just in one violent flash, that was it...and everyone was just left picking up the pieces - including Blair.
So as for humanity and the Kilrathi...I'd fly against both as equals personally. And based on what we're told of the Nephilim (they're essentially made out to be an anti-life race for you to fight against), I would likely engage them with maximum hostility until there was evidence to show that I should do otherwise.
These are just my opinions, however...each is entitled to his/her own. But nevertheless, kudos to you guys for a thought-provoking conversation/argument.
- FireFalcon ~};^
