Concordia's Captain

Concordia

Swabbie
Banned
I think honestly, the Concordia's Commander was Captain Ian St. John during 2668.

I mean Tolwyn commands the battlegroup and has his flag there, but the individual ship is commanded by St. John (Hunter).

I mean read this passage from Voices of War...

Commander's Log -- 2668.330

After the tense months leading up to the destruction of the secretly
produced Hakaga carrier force, this last assignment was anti-
climactic, to say the least. The Concordia was growing rather
rickety after years of abuse, and she'd been placed on indefinite
patrol status, Code 4. What this translated into was running routine
"safe" sector patrols. So I did just that, flying sortie after sortie in
clear, open space. For eight months straight.

Now, as the Concordia rounds Damioyn, I gaze out the tiny
porthole in my bunk. A waning crescent moon dips behind the
thick clouds of this transfer planet, brightly lit off the starboard
hull. The rapidly approaching haze is a curious swirl of avocado
and cranberry, like nothing I've seen before. In a less than half an
hour, I'll taste the first steak I've had in months. Showers, phones,
all the conveniences of real life on a real planet. Best of all, I'll be
transferring home.

Packing up what few odds and ends I've collected, I begin to think
I might actually miss this old bird after all. There's the brass wing
Shotglass gave me after K'Tithrak Mang. And the tall, thin
Firekkan chalice that my feathered friend K'Kai gifted me with
during her last stop-in
. Finally, there's the framed picture of the
crew's last launch party. Friends hugging friends. Some friends
who never came back.

After I'm through packing, I zip my standard-issue duffle shut and
jog toward the decompression lounge. I wave goodbye to my
quarters and envision beaches, blondes, brunettes, and banana
daiquiris. Not to mention a promotion or two.

I highlited the part that seems to be conclusive of Hunter.

He was friends with K'Kai, he served on the Tiger's Claw (the brass-wing Shotglass gave him), and in the Fleet Action, Hunter was a Captain, and apparently they had switched the whole fleet over to Naval Ranks again (even the pilots-- judging by the fact that Captain Bondarevsky and Hunter seemed to be about equal-- Hunter never referred to Bondarevsky as "sir" for example, or no referrence to him being above him). Also Hunter would be pretty old by 2668...

Considering he was 27 in 2654, and Fleet Action and Voices of War take place about 14 years later, St. John would have been approximately 41 years of age. That is about right for a Naval Captain.

And there are numerous cases where Carrier captains were ex-pilots.

Of course there is a little problem though... Hunter died during Fleet Action, this passage takes place a few months later...

Of course, Voices of war I think comes with Armada, and therefore would have to take more precedence over the novels. St. John's death was an error on William Forstchen's part-- he screwed up, may not have known about that little passage in Voices of War.

Either way... dunno what to make about it...

Write over that Voices of War bit... or keep St. John alive... the way I figure it, if he bailed out of that fighter in Fleet Action, he'd be alive to command Concordia...

of course, where would he be when the Concordia was flying at F/A? Maybe Tolwyn did a Captain Kirk and assumed command of her directly, or the X/O assumed command with Tolwyn coordinating the BattleGroup.

Maybe he was a pilot in WC Fleet Action, then eventually commanded Concordia by .330. Of course he couldn't have died for that to happen.

Any ways to smooth that in? LOAF?

-Concordia
 
There were a LOT of people who served on the Tiger's Claw, and K'Kai was a political figure. Commanders of well known ships, and political ambassadors have a tendency to bump into each other. That hardley proves it was Hunter.
 
What? No, this doesn't make any sense for a bunch of reasons.

* Hunter wasn't at K'Tithrak Mang with the Tiger's Claw... that's how he survived.
* The person who wrote this paragraph (possibly "Jacorski" referred to later on in Voices) was an 'enemy' of Tolwyn. Hunter was one of Tolwyn's proteges (discussed in Fleet Action where Tolwyn choses to bring Hunter and Bear to the treaty signing instead of regular staff officers).
* This person wasn't the captain of the Concordia. They were a Concordia pilot ("So I did just that, flying sortie after sortie in clear, open space.") who was being made captain of the Lexington.
* Hunter wasn't a line Captain, anyway... he was a Space Forces Captain (circa 2668). If he magically survived (and was picked up deep in Kilrathi space somehow) he'd have to be promoted several grades in the course of only a few months (which Mystery Character admits were entirely uneventful).
 
Originally posted by Concordia
I think honestly, the Concordia's Commander was Captain Ian St. John during 2668. Any ways to smooth that in? LOAF?

Christ on a Pony.. why do you even bother?
 
I would say "Guys come on, it's just a game" but the last person who said that to me got sent home in little tiny pieces. No one says that about WC, I mean no one. :D
 
There is a difference between Navy Captain and Space Force Captain. SF Captain is the same as Navy Lieutenant
 
I thought, someone said that cuase Hunter was a Captain, he had to be the Commanding Officer?

Sorry if was mistaken
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
What? No, this doesn't make any sense for a bunch of reasons.

Okay, I understand what you mean.

* Hunter wasn't at K'Tithrak Mang with the Tiger's Claw... that's how he survived.

Never mind, I screwed up

* The person who wrote this paragraph (possibly "Jacorski" referred to later on in Voices) was an 'enemy' of Tolwyn. Hunter was one of Tolwyn's proteges (discussed in Fleet Action where Tolwyn choses to bring Hunter and Bear to the treaty signing instead of regular staff officers).

Who was Jacorski? Is that this guy?

* This person wasn't the captain of the Concordia. They were a Concordia pilot ("So I did just that, flying sortie after sortie in clear, open space.") who was being made captain of the Lexington.

* Hunter wasn't a line Captain, anyway... he was a Space Forces Captain (circa 2668). If he magically survived (and was picked up deep in Kilrathi space somehow) he'd have to be promoted several grades in the course of only a few months (which Mystery Character admits were entirely uneventful).

Apparently, in WC FA Forstchen seems to love to have pilots of both Naval grade and Space Force Grade all the way to Fleet Action. Once WC3 came on he seemed to go back completely to Space-Forces with the exception of Captain Bondarevsky.

Hunter never seemed to refer to Bondarevsky as sir, or in any manner suggestive of Bondarevsky's authority. I wonder if they mixed that up. And Hunter was 14 years older in WC FA than WC1, quite unusual that he would not have been promoted at all in all those years-- particularly strange considering he is a protoge of Admiral Tolwyn, and 27 is about right for a Navy Lieutenant or a USAF Captain.

Judging by the conversations between Bondarevsky and Hunter (when they were in that bar-- the one with the mug being gold plated for the dead guys that "sucked vacuum"), they seemed to be equals. Maybe that was a screw-up on Forstchen's part or Hunter some-how switched over to Navy. I mean Blair did it.

So, Hunter's not the guy.

Who's Jacorski, and who the hell is the Concordia's Captain? Even a guess would be nice.

-Concordia
 
Originally posted by Concordia
Judging by the conversations between Bondarevsky and Hunter (when they were in that bar-- the one with the mug being gold plated for the dead guys that "sucked vacuum"), they seemed to be equals.

Formalities are often dismissed when in a casual environment like a bar. Take the first conversation between Vagabond and Blair as an example.
 
Originally posted by WildWeasel
Formalities are often dismissed when in a casual environment like a bar. Take the first conversation between Vagabond and Blair as an example.

Or when they are used in an informal setting, its generally to make a specific point or impression.

"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, Major."
-- Blair
 
Also Hunter and Bear were pretty good friends, and friends often dismiss formality even if one is higher in rank than the other.
 
Is it not more likely that Forstchen made a mistake by overlooking this passage? The alternative being that it was a different 'St. John' who served on the Tiger's Claw round about the time of WC1 who was a close personal friend of K'Kai.

Or perhaps more likely, that voices of war can be disregarded as being overriden by Forstchen's novels, considering how brilliant they are and how nearly totally ignored Armada is. I'd place novel fiction above armada random writer who thought the Claw even survived K'Tithrak Mang fiction. But that's just me.

Thinking about it, there are so many places unexplored in the Wing Commander timeline that can be explored by perhaps the unknown enemy team. The whole Blair's side of fighting and being crippled in the battle of earth, and the concordia's last few months as a piece-of-crap carrier as opposed to its usual status as flagship of the fleet.
 
Originally posted by Dougie
Is it not more likely that Forstchen made a mistake by overlooking this passage? The alternative being that it was a different 'St. John' who served on the Tiger's Claw round about the time of WC1 who was a close personal friend of K'Kai.

If you're talking about the passage at the begining of this thread, there's no reason to even believe it was intended to be Hunter... it doesn't seem to have been...
 
If you're talking about the passage at the begining of this thread, there's no reason to even believe it was intended to be Hunter... it doesn't seem to have been...

Yup I saw that reading it a second time around. I retract my initial gripe and claim 'hey it's 2 am gimme a break' as my excuse :)

i still think it's pretty unlikely someone served on the Tiger's Claw and was a close personal friend of K'Kai. Okay I understand how it can be explained that the Tiger's Claw hung around in Firekka for a little while, plus if K'Kai is making stops everywhere she's likely to have more than just Hunter as a friend, so oh flip I dunno. I reckon the author intended it to be Hunter, but K'Tithrak Mang was kind of an all hands lost operation, Shotglass included, so I reckon the author is wayyy off the mark.
 
Originally posted by Dougie
Thinking about it, there are so many places unexplored in the Wing Commander timeline that can be explored by perhaps the unknown enemy team. The whole Blair's side of fighting and being crippled in the battle of earth, and the concordia's last few months as a piece-of-crap carrier as opposed to its usual status as flagship of the fleet.

last time i checked Blair was just wounded, and I remember seeing someplace that he didn't fly during the battle for earth because he was wounded just before truce and was off the flight line (though pilots consider that being crippled) during the battle for earth. I can't remember where I saw that, though.
 
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