Hey now... 
As always, thanks for your replies, guys.
LOAF, thanks for your commentary and for laying down the hard facts. Honestly, I don't know if having the Nephilim be the Star Gods or not would affect the story I'm cooking up one way or the other. I guess this was just more a curiosity on my part - to have the entire background.
I guess I'm just trying to understand the reasoning or logic behind some of the things that I'm finding some difficulty in grasping. This whole argument of mine is just for the sake of trying to look at all aspects of things; I must confess that I don't have anywhere NEAR the extent of knowledge about Wing Commander as you or some of the rest of people here, so please don't take any offense to my commentary or questioning that may come across as playing Devil's Advocate to some extent. Anyway, among the things I'm having difficulty grasping, or the things I'm considering:
(1) What if the Prophecy IS in fact true, but the Nephilim are not the race being referred to in it? Granted, they did wormhole their way into Kilrah of all sectors, but also consider this:
(a) if the whole purpose of the Star Gods is to wipe out the Kilrathi for failing and their enemy for defeating them, then why not just send out that attack force right at the war's end? Why wait a decade (or however long it was)?
(b) why not show up in full force? Granted, the wormhole was being solidified for passage of probably a much larger force, and the Midway's timely intervention cut them off. But think about this - if the Nephilim are the realization of the prophecy, how would they know that the Kilrathi failed and/or that Kilrah was destroyed? Or actually wait...I'm having a thought here:
What if the Nephilim didn't KNOW the Kilrathi failed? You said the Prophecy had two spins on it - Kn'Thrak and the alternative (T'Thrak or whatever, which I guess is the challenge the cats would face if they had been victorious and their Star Gods came again to finally face them in combat). So I guess a good argument that would make sense would be that the Star Gods simply did return as promised, and only found out after the fact that the Kilrathi were, in fact, defeated. This would explain the recon force that came through first. Because think about it - if it were the other way, if the Star Gods/Nephilim KNEW the Kilrathi were defeated, that would imply they'd been monitoring them all along...so why wouldn't they know the kind of force they'd be up against and just blitz them full-force? Instead, they're more tentative in coming through the wormhole, it seems.
(2) The Kn'Thrak spelled in blood on the deck of the ship is neither here, nor there, so this is really not an essential argument. You're right - Hawk told Casey right after that mission that the marines found the cats ripped up into little chunks. But whose to say that a cat didn't write it before being sliced and diced?
How would the Nephilim know the Kilrathi word and how to spell it? The Prophecy was written after they left, right? If we're going under the assumption that the Star Gods left all that time ago and have only now returned, even IF they knew of the Prophecy back then, how would they know how it translated over the years? Case in point - religious texts. These things are translated into numerous other languages. You take the story of Judgement Day....if aliens came down and wrote "Judgement Day," it would freak us out. But it wasn't originally called "Judgement Day"...there was probably a Latin, Aramaic, or some other ancient language tongue that this was translated from, yet today we don't know it by its ancient language translation0. But if the aliens knew that word, wouldn't that be the word they would write? And why would that hold any meaning to any of us since most of us aren't well versed in ancient languages? Now maybe we're to assume that the Kilrathi language didn't evolve or have different dialects over the millenia? I don't know how much sense that would make, but I guess that could be the case....dunno. What are your thoughts?
I'm all about trying to stick to the story as best as I can, and I plan to honor that as I go. I'm only trying to get a feel for what everyone else thinks as far as things. Again, I'm not saying the Prophecy ISN'T true...all I'm saying is that the Nephilim might not be the Star Gods of the Prophecy.
Also, the bugs brought many of Blair's memories of the past back to haunt him. Granted, one thing they discovered was the destruction of Kilrah, but that wasn't all...they also found out about Angel, Tolwyn, and other things. It seemed to me like they were more just fascinated with what makes a person tick rather than anything significant. Maybe this whole thing was a psycho-analysis of the human species - to try and find out what made us so resilient and tough so that we'd be easier to break in the war ahead, as well as to know how we think, the way we draw conclusions, etc. That'd be the best weapon to have against someone, wouldn't it? If you knew the mind of your enemy, you would know his strengths and his weaknesses, what he was going to do, etc.
I also question whether the Kilrathi were simply just slaughtered off by the bugs. I don't remember any Dula 7 sequence that mentioned the cats were being killed off left and right...I only remember there being like 2 or 3 prisoners (including Blair) who were "liberated." I know Finley spoke to Casey at one point, saying that she was in communication with the Kilrathi somewhere, but she said she had since lost all communication with them. Casey thought she was implying they had been killed, but Finley corrects him and says that it's more just simply that they're no longer there, and that it was known that the bugs took a great many prisoners - thousands, I believe she says. Unless I'm misunderstanding something, this implies to me that the Nephilim are interested in the Kilrathi for something more than just slaughter. Casey says that it's almost like they're being consumed or devoured (I forget the wording - it's been awhile) like in the Kilrathi Prophecy, or something to that effect (yeah yeah, again...I know, this points out that the Nephilim may in fact be the Star Gods). But my point here, is that regardless what the Nephilim are, it seemed like they were doing more than simply killing all life left and right. While that might be their ultimate aim, it's almost as though they first wish to harvest and dissect their prey...perhaps it's to glean all the knowledge they can from races prior to eliminating them? That way, they would be even stronger....and hey, that could work too...
The Star Gods wanted the Kilrathi to battle as many races as they could to attain a level of supremacy. Perhaps the Nephilim themselves have conquered a great many races during their time and have forced the hand of other races to be as violently confrontational as the Kilrathi all with the idea of having there be only one race at the end with the knowledge gleaned from every sentient race of the universe.
Whoa...what do you think about that idea? Or am I TOTALLY flying off on a tangent here?
Also, going off-topic a bit here, I could use some information in order to have my story a little truer to the universe:
(1) I'm under the impression that the Pilgrims were destroyed long ago, right? All that exists now are a limited number of half-breeds, like Blair and Paladin (at least in the movie)? Or is there any chance of there being an actual full-blooded pilgrim somewhere, hovering around the backwaters of some distant star?
(2) Is there ever any information on the Canewdon or Perillia, two adjacent systems located in the Epislon Sector, Deneb Quadrant? Specifically, any information pertaining to trade routes, planets, starbases, famous battles, head honchos, etc.?
(3) Taggart (Paladin) is still a Senator as of the end of Prophecy, right? Exactly what is he a senator of? Does he represent any particular planet or system? Does he hold any real power or is he just a talking head in a sea of talking heads? Is Taggart part pilgrim like Blair (in the movie, he did hand a cross to Blair, he had respect for pilgrims, and he could navigate space like a pilgrim)? When's the last time he's flown - either a transport or a fighter?
(4) Ghorah Khar was a system that rebelled against the empire during the war. I guess around a Kilrathi habited world in that system (not sure if it's named) hovered Olympus Station, is that right? Did Olympus Station survive to see the end of the war, or was it destroyed at some point?
Thanks again for all the help, guys. Again, LOAF, sorry if I come across as a devil's advocate again here - please just try and bear with me through my inquisitiveness!
Respectfully,
FireFalcon ~};^
Ah well...just laziness on my part. I'll STILL consider it, but I'm reluctant to jump at the notion just yet. I mean, once I start down that path, it's only a matter of time before I'm dressing up in my own Confederation officer uniform with an official Kilrathi head insulating my noggin' and a tight Pilgrim cross hanging around my neck cutting off circulation and enlargening my already enormous cat head. 
