If you'll notice, they also tried to kill off Maniac in the wc3 novel. They conveniently put "Oh, and, uh . . Blair thought he might have seen an escape pod struggling for orbit. Yah."
But, also, Vagabond DIES in the wc3 novel. Pretty cheeky, huh? something about a chinese curse and wham-o: Shark-bits.
Why didn't they kill of Rachel? Actually, I know the reason. They all loved banging Ginger Lynn during the filming for wc3, and decided to bring her back for wcp. But, what was all of this with the old, stretched-wide chief tech taking the somewhat-hots for Casey? And, was Blair over her by that time? And, in the WC4 novel, they had Blair banging Sosa as the happy ending. Where was she at during wcp? Did she leave his sorry ass, too?
Seems to me like Blair got his skills with a flight-stick by having so much experience handling his own stick. Mostly because he couldn't keep a woman around to "fly" it for him. Even Maniac cracks at him. "Been a while since you held a flight stick, eh, Colonel? Oh, or did you find some sand princess to hold it for you back there? HA! You don't have to answer that."
And, what the bloody heck ever happened to the "Maniac Missions" add-on that was promised for wc4? I heard the rumor, but never saw anything. Someone fill me in.
Nick Blitz