Was Blair guilty of negligence?

Falcon988

Commodore
The manual for the Wing Commander II special edition clearly states that Christopher Blair detected the presence of Strakha but did not warn the Tiger's Claw. He believed they were a radar glitch and didn't want to worry the Claw's crew over nothing. Thus Blair, without telling anyone, went off hunting the Strakha alone. Soon after they destroyed the Claw.

Call me crazy but isn't this a bit of a military gray area? He certainly wasn't guilty of treason but the negligence charge could be deserved. What do you all think?
 
Just like in wc2, nobody belived him. Not until the game was almost over did angel stop razzin him about it. If I am remembering this right, he was the only one outside of the cats and or the mandarins that would know of that tech. I think he was in the clear.
 
BUT... Blair had the duty of reporting in to the Tiger's Claw regardless whether anybody else would have believed him. What is done with Blair's warning information at the time is entirely the responsibility of the staff officers aboard the Claw. Therefore if he had warned the Tiger's Claw, he probably would have been in the clear.

The fact that Blair did not warn them at all constitutes negligence. Thus in the game storyline he was demoted to Captain and transferred to ISS. And part of the reason why he always faithfully reports stealth fighter sightings while on the Concordia, to the derision of everybody...
 
I thought I saw somwhere that he did report the stealth fighters. BUT nobody belived him. (Angel somewhat belived him)
 
He was found guilty of negligence because they didn't have his flight recorder that Jazz destroyed, so they couldn't even prove he was a traitor or was innocent.

Apparently Tolwyn thought that the flight recorder would prove Blair a traitor, but Blair, on the other hand, knew it would vindicate his claims about the stealth fighters.
 
By the way, where in the manual did it say that Christopher Blair detected the presence of Strakha but did not warn the Tiger's Claw?

Is the WC2 manual from KS somewhat different from the one you're quoting from?

I'll quote this from the KS WC2 manual, in a newspaper like page titled "Confederation Pilot Trades Heroism for House Arrest":

"According to inside TCN soruces, the traditional "black box" that records fighter information was missing from Blair's ship following the incident. Without the device, officials have no way to verify (or contradict) that his actions followed protocol during the course of the flight."

(Italics and bold mine)

Because there was no way to prove that Blair did the right thing, the end result (destruction of the Tiger's Claw) would automatically render him negligent. The in-game fiction paints a picture that the accusations of traitor was actually only Tolwyn's personal opinion as a prosecutor, but it carried enough weight to taint the informal views of many people.
 
Quote from page 2 of the Wing Commander II Deluxe Edition play manual...

"Soon after, however, disaster struck. While the Tiger's Claw was attacking the K'tithrak Mang, you encountered several fighters that faded mysteriously from sight. Even your radar couldn't track them! Not wanting to panic the Claw over what you thought to be a radar malfunction, you went looking for the ghostly fighters."

Call me crazy but from that paragraph it seems like Blair was justifably charged with negligence.
 
From Secrets of the Wing Commander Universe by Mark Minasi:

'Meanwhile, the Tiger's Claw moves into Enigma, looking to find-and destroy- K'tithrak Mang. While on a patrol, you meet the new stealth fighters. You find that the ships are fairly easy to destroy, once you've locked onto them, but their appearing and disappearing makes destroying them slow going. Chasing them lures you away from the Claw for just a bit too long ... and when you return to your carrier, you see nothing but the debris of your old ship--the Kilrathi destroyed it.

Landing on another carrier, the Austin, you are thrown into the brig and charged with desertion. Your protests that you were distracted by a new 'stealth' fighter ship are met by jeers and derision. "Check my flight logs," you say. "We did," reply the investigators. "The logs are mysteriously--and conveniently--damaged."

While the damaged logs can't testify in your favour, they can't testify against you either, and so there isn't enough evidence to hang you with. Admiral Tolwyn does the next best thing to a hanging, however: He busts you down to Captain, and sends you to Gynnen Station, a quiet communications relay station in an adjoining system. You'll probably never fly a fighter again. Embittered, you take your new post, vowing to restore your standing in the military."

I dunno how official this book is, but thats what it says about Blair at that point. I couldnt find my copy of the WC1/2 Guide so that'll do for now I guess.
 
Mark Minasi's book is completely unofficial and has no place in the storyline.

Falcon988 said:
Quote from page 2 of the Wing Commander II Deluxe Edition play manual...

"Soon after, however, disaster struck. While the Tiger's Claw was attacking the K'tithrak Mang, you encountered several fighters that faded mysteriously from sight. Even your radar couldn't track them! Not wanting to panic the Claw over what you thought to be a radar malfunction, you went looking for the ghostly fighters."

Call me crazy but from that paragraph it seems like Blair was justifably charged with negligence.

In that very paragraph it says Blair thought it was a random technical glitch. Obviously nobody believed it was anything more than that, so nobody would think to charge him with negligence in failing to report that. The negligence claim comes from him having no evidence to explain why he couldn't alert the Tiger's Claw about an incoming strike. When the evidence surfaced and he could demonstrate it was because of the previously unseen stealth fighters, he was cleared.
 
Back
Top