Typos! Don't you hate them? Well, I don't… because they've added at least two Kilrathi fighters to the Wing Commander canon! It may come as a surprise to many but the people involved in writing a Wing Commander tie-in weren't always players of the games they were adapting. Writers and editors often relied on the series bible produced by Origin's creative services group to get the nuts and bolts of the universe correct. As a result, it was easy for small errors to make it to press… especially when they involved words that weren't "real" like Kilrathi ship types. Here are two times when letting the wrong name go to print added a little bit of mystery to our world… and one where it didn't!
Our first example is the Grakhi, a ship type mentioned one time in End Run. From the text, reprinted below, it's pretty clear that Dr. Forstchen had intended to use 'Grikath' for the ship – they're described as heavy fighters firing torpedoes at the Tarawa. But because Grakhi survived to print it's another type of Kilrathi fighter… and because the name is so close to what was intended, it fits perfectly alongside others: Grikath, Gothri, Goran, Gamora and so on!
Half a dozen Grakhi bore straight in and slowed.
“Torpedo attack imminent.”
A spread of torpedoes dropped out from each of the Kilrathi fighters.
Jason turned and looked over at Merritt. “Still got any mines on board?”
Merritt nodded. “A couple in each of the landing craft.”
“Set a landing craft on autopilot, and once we’ve recovered our last ship I want the mine activated and the landing ship out the airlock door on automatic pilot.”
“Got you,” and Merritt dashed out of the room.
On the downward-looking screen Jason watched as the boiling upper atmosphere of the gas giant raced by, not ten kilometers below. The magnetic distortion created by the atmosphere made communication almost impossible with his escorts and he watched as they attempted to cover his stern.
The six Kilrathi heavy fighters pulled up and away, their spread of torpedoes closing in. Jason heard the high-pitched ping of a solid guidance lock.
And we might even know what the Grakhi looks like! Thanks to the fact that David Mattingly's cover art adapts this specific scene and it includes a trio of unique Kilrathi ships attacking the Tarawa. These were intended to be a loose combination of the familiar Dralthi on the original Wing Commander's box and the Drakhri on the Wing Commander II box… and maybe history will remember them as a Grakhi heavy fighter!
Our second example is exactly the same situation but in the adaptation of Wing Commander IV. Here, Ben Ohlander tries to include a reference to Wing Commander's signature Kilrathi ship, the Dralthi… but it accidentally became "Draltha" and that was what wound up in the book! Unlike the Grakhi, we don't have a picture… but from the name and the description below you can imagine a tough but fast medium fighter.
He flipped through his book again. A Hellcat modified to carry a torpedo? Or perhaps a Draltha? Either would explain the speed, but the configuration would test the frame's limits. He recalled how his experimental Excalibur had handled when he'd carried the Temblor Bomb. The weapon had reduced the nimble fighter to a space-going pig. He rubbed the Hellcat's page between two fingers. A torpedo-carrying Hellcat was possible, but it just didn't feel right.
Of course, sometimes this backfires. In False Colors, author Andrew Keith attempted to name a type of Kilrathi shuttle something which the editors caught and renamed 'Gratha' based on the series bible. This is likely a case of his choosing a name close to Gratha and then having an editor attempt to 'fix' it. Unlike many writers, Andrew Keith is on record as having played the games before writing the book. It's also clear that he intentionally references material from Claw Marks rather than just the series bible throughout the novel. Luckily, continuity still works in favor of a bigger universe: now there's simply two different types of Kilrathi ship named Gratha! Now let's check out one of what is otherwise one of the coolest descriptions of anything ever written, False Colors' very detailed introduction to Kilrathi shuttle variants.
Shuttles, various types, roughly four squadrons. The Kilrathi design philosophy emphasized dispersal and duplication of valuable assets to allow a force to suffer losses and still win a battle. They had adapted one basic shuttlecraft design for a number of different purposes. The Naktarg was the original version, an assault shuttle large enough to hold troops and small vehicles and armed with gatling lasers and anti-armor ground-support missiles. A Search and Rescue variant, the Rogharth, was not unlike the Type-R ConFleet shuttle that had carried the castaway party back to Karga, devoting space to a medical bay and extra sensors. Another intriguing type, as far as Tolwyn was concerned, was the Gratha, which was fitted for command and control duties. It carried a crew of six as well as room for a strike commander and his staff, and duplicated the tracking, communications, and tactical computer functions housed within a carrier's Primary Flight Control center. They effectively increased the carrier's ability to control flight operations over long distances.
Finally, there was the Kofar shuttle variant, a flying munitions and fuel dump that could dock with a Kilrathi fighter in space and transfer fuel and missiles. Tolwyn had long argued that the Confederation fleet could have used a similar platform. Carriers, after all, were at their most vulnerable when they were in the process of rearming and refueling fighters in the middle of combat operations. Terran carriers could launch small tankers, but there was no provision for restocking a fighter's missiles without having it return to the flight deck. The Kofar extended Kilrathi planes' flight times dramatically.
Could the Kilrathi shuttles seen in Wing Commander IV be Gratha-type Naktargs?
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