WC vs History: 25 Years of War (August 16, 2015)

Dundradal

Frog Blast the Vent Core!



It's been 25 years since the original Wing Commander was released in 1990. What an amazing quarter century it has been! So many advances, events, and discoveries have transformed the world we knew, well some of us knew, into the world we know. And yet, if we imagine 1990 as 2634 and push forward to today, the Terran-Kilrathi War still had 10 years of fighting before Colonel Blair dropped the Temblor Bomb on Kilrah!

As a special birthday edition of WC vs History we're going to take that idea of 1990 as 2634 and see where in the war would the last 25 years have been.


2634 / 1990

  • .186 - War is Declared! A pair of Kilrathi fighters attack and destroy the Anna Magdelena. The transport had been carrying orphans to their new home on Dieno. After five years of attacks and assaults, this action is the last straw for the Confederation. The Confederation officially declare war on the Empire of Kilrah.
  • .235 - .239 - The McAuliffe Ambush is the first major Kilrathi offensive of the war. The Confederation suffers horrible losses as the Kilrathi fleet is quadruple the expected size. More than 90 ships, including five carriers and four battleships, are lost along with more than a quarter million lives. The Kilrathi are turned back by an aggressive Confederation counterattack.

2639 / 1995

  • .033 - .040 - The Enyo Engagement occurs as Kilrathi occupation forces land on Enyo and McAuliffe. In the ensuing battle, casualties are nearly identical for both sides.

2639 - 2644 / 1995 - 2000

  • The two sides settle into a long and unending stalemate, creating tension along the frontier. Several Terran worlds declare independence from the Confederation as a prelude to declaring neutrality in the conflict.

2644 / 2000





  • The newly-launched TCS Tiger's Claw, on its shakedown cruise, carrying a minimal spacecrew and an under-experienced command, finds itself in the path of a surprise Kilrathi invasion force. The ship's unexpected presence along the Kilrathi flight plan, clever tactics on the part of the command crew, and performance above and beyond the call of duty by the spacecrews rout the superior Kilrathi force. Shortly thereafter, the Tiger's Claw is given a permanent assignment in Vega Sector

2648 / 2004

  • .305 - The Confederation succeeds in breaking the Kilrathi encryption code. In order to prevent a repeat of the McAuliffe debacle, Confed takes pains to ensure their interpretation of the code is accurate.

2649 / 2005

  • .189 - Terran Command, using information on Kilrathi fleets and deployments gained through their breaking of encryption methods, assembles a force consisting of 60% of the Vega Sector Fleet aimed at invading and occupying Kilrah itself. Given the overwhelming superiority in force and information as well as strategy,a victory seems well in hand.
  • .205 - Terran ground forces launch an attack on a fortified Kilrathi colony, only to be routed by unexpected Kilrathi fighter support. The TCS Tiger???s Claw is detached from its previous station and assigned to intercept the pursuing fighters in a delaying action eventually known as Custer???s Carnival. Swarmed and badly damaged by Kilrathi fighters, the carrier distracts Kilrathi forces long enough for the Terran fleet to reach safety.

2649 - 2653 / 2005 - 2009

  • Another period of stalemate as the two sides continue the fight.

2653 / 2009





  • Recent heavy losses in battles against the Kilrathi cause the 201st Plebe class of the Confederation's Space Naval Academy to replace the regular flight crews aboard the refurbished TCS Tiger's Claw, Commodore Geoffrey Tolwyn commanding. The cadets are supposed to complete their course of instruction while performing routine patrols and flight training. But, in war, anything can, and does, happen...

2653 - 2655 / 2009 - 2011

  • The Confederation signs an alliance with the Firekkans. Unknown to the Confederation and Firekkans, the Firekkan homeworld has been chosen by the Kilrathi as the site of their next Sivar-Eshrad ceremony. The Confederation decides to disrupt the ceremony in hopes of breaking Kilrathi morale. Confederation marines succeed in doing so and then retreat out of system with the Kilrathi in heavy pursuit.


2654 / 2010

  • .074 - .079 - Pilgrim separatists aid the Kilrathi in destroying Pegasus Station and securing its NavCOM AI, opening a direct path to Earth. Terran ships rush to defend the homeworld. The Tiger's Claw, the only ship between the Kilrathi fleet and Sol, fights desperately to delay the enemy advance. The delay is enough to allow Commodore Tolwyn to ambush the Kilrathi fleet as it jumps into Sol.
  • .184 - The Empire deploys its first stealth fighter, a specially modified Sartha with radar-reflective paint and a low emission drive. It is code-named "Strakha", meaning "hidden striker". Confederation pilots, working in pairs, manage to destroy the fighter. Stealth fighter technology is soon perfected.
  • .287 - Confederation intelligence reports that the Kilrathi are directing the war efforts from a starbase in Venice system. A small attack force of elite fighters is dispatched to the starbase. The starbase is destroyed and the Kilrathi are forced to move their central military command back to Kilrah.
  • Simultaneously, on the far side of the galaxy, the Battle of Repleetah begins.
  • .326 - Goddard Colony is destroyed a Kilrathi superweapon mounted on a Sivar-class dreadnought. The Tiger's Claw gives chase into Kilrathi territory where it eventually catches, and destroys, the ship.


2655 / 2011

  • The Tiger's Claw goes behind enemy lines to seek out and destroy the labs and shipyards that produced the Sivar dreadnaught and its superweapon in the Jakarta system.

2656 / 2012





  • The Enigma Sector Campaign commences.
  • The Tiger's Claw is transferred to the Enigma Sector. It is tasked with destroying the Kilrathi High Comamand base, K'tithrak Mang. However, the mission is a failure when the traitor, Zach Colson, alerts the Kilrathi of the ship's pressence. The Kilrathi use a squad of stealth fighters to destroy the carrier. Christopher Blair is blamed for the loss.
  • Crown Prince Thrakhath nar Kiranka launches a strike on the Ghorah Khar shipyards, protecting the stealth fighter technology.

2657 - 2659 / 2013 - 2015
  • The Enigma Sector Campaign continues unabated as both sides attempt to secure the jump points that lead deep into the Confederation's inner worlds.

It won't still be for another five years, 2020/2664, that the Battle of Repleetah will come to an end. Even then, there's still five more years until Victory over the Kilrathi!

--
Original update published on August 16, 2015
 
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