WING COMMANDER TIMELINE
COLONIZATION
Mining operations conducted on asteroid belt within Sol
System. Humans undertake colonization and terraforming
efforts on the other worlds in the Sol System, including Mars
and Venus.
21st - 23rd Century
JUMP DRIVE
Superluminal Flight / Akwende Drive (the Jump Drive)
technology discovered, developed, and placed into use.
Exploration into areas previously believed unreachable begins.
2416
UNIFICATION
The Terran Confederation, a loose alliance of colonies, planets,
and systems, each with their own autonomous government, is
formed. Significantly military in nature, Confed is designed to
provide economic support and a common defense between
interstellar outposts of humankind. It becomes the mediator --
and sometimes enforcer -- in disagreements and conflicts.
2427
THE GREAT EXPANSION
Humanity spreads out rapidly into interstellar space.
25th Century
THE IASON INCIDENT
Confederation spaceship Iason encounters a spacecraft of
unknown origin. Commander Jedora Andropotos on board Iason
transmits a wide-band, non-verbal greeting and waits for a
response. Less than twenty minutes later, the still-unidentified
ship opens fire with full lasers, completely destroying Iason and
its crew.
Although the identity of the attacking ship is never definitively
established, Confederation deep space tracking computers
point to a possible point of origin from a previous unexplored
planet, soon to be known by its native name, Kilrah.
2629.105
MOUNTING TENSIONS
The Terran Confederation receives numerous reports of
unwarranted assault, space piracy, kidnapping and
interplanetary plundering, all taking place at an increasingly
expanding distance from the planet Kilrah. Frequent attempts
to meet with Kilrathi High Command are rejected without
explanation. In retaliation, the Terran Confederation Congress
votes unanimously to enforce a strict non-aggression policy by
the Kilrathi. The leaders of Kilrah are warned that their next
transgression could lead to military reprisals.
2630 - 2634
THE ANNA MAGDELENA INCIDENT
The Anna Magdelena, a refitted transport ship ferrying orphans
to their new homes on Dieno, is openly attacked by a pair of
Kilrathi fighters. No one survives. In retaliation for this and the
five-year string of equally heinous abuses of all known laws of
civility, the Terran Confederation officially declares war on the
Empire of Kilrah.
2634.186
THE FIRST BATTLE OF McAULIFFE
TCN cryptographer Ches M. Penney intercepts and decodes a
stray Kilrathi cipher implying that a strike will soon be launched
against the planet McAuliffe and its orbiting space station,
Alexandria. Confederation High Command orders a
counteroffensive twice the size of the anticipated fleet, hoping
to reach McAuliffe first and ambush the attackers.
After a tense rush to McAuliffe, the Confederation fleet
establishes a formidable defensive position around the planet.
When the Kilrathi fleet arrives, however, it is quadruple the
expected size. Several days of bloody fighting all but obliterate
the Confederation's defensive forces.
2634.228 - 2634.235
CUSTER'S CARNIVAL
Terran ground forces launch an attack on a fortrified Kilrathi
colony, only to be routed by unexpected Kilrathi fighter
support. The new Bengal-class carrier 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.
Despite the fact that three-fourths of its engines are
destroyed and half its pilots are listed as casualties, the heroic
efforts of the Tiger's Claw's crew allows the carrier to make it
back into Terran space. Two Gold Stars (one to a young pilot
by the name of James "Paladin" Taggert) and numerous other
medals - many of them posthumous - are awarded to the ship's
personnel. The carrier itself spends six months in spacedock for
repairs and refitting.
2644
BATTLE FOR VENICE
Terran Intelligence reports that the Kilrathi High Command is
directing war efforts from the Venice System. Reconnaissance
patrols identify Kilrathi ships and boldly give chase, uncovering
an Imperial starbase. The Terran patrols are lost, but not
before relaying their coordinates back to HQ.
A small Terran fleet of elite fighters is dispatched to the
Imperial starbase. The Kilrathi resist strongly against the
attack, but are eventually overpowered. Badly beaten, the
Kilrathi move their central military command back to their
homeworld of Kilrah.
(Wing Commander)
2654.287 - 2654.301
THE BATTLE OF REPLEETAH UNFOLDS
Following failed attempts by Terran scientists to garner
peaceful co-existance with the Kilrathi scientific detachment
on the small research planet of Repleetah, the Kilrathi
devastate the planet in a surprise attack with biological
weapons. The Terran Confederation reinforces the planet with
Marines. Fought mostly on planet-side, though a single
bombardment from space could end the battle, the Battle of
Repleetah becomes the most sustained land-based fighting of
the entire war. In trench warfare reminiscent of Earth's ancient
World War I, each side fights with dogged determination and in
full bio-resistant suits. The bloodshed continues unabated for
years.
2654
DESTRUCTION OF GODDARD COLONY
Shortly after intelligence reports indicate that the Kilrathi have
developed a new weapon against inhabited planets, all contact
is lost with the Goddard colony. The Confederation fleet arrives
at Goddard only to find that the quarter-million colonists were
all killed when the Kilrathi bombarded the colony with their new
weapon.
(Secret Missions: Operation Thor's Hammer)
2654.326
GODDARD AVENGED
Deeply angered by the Goddard tragedy, the Confederation
carrier Tiger's Claw pursues the Kilrathi strike force into enemy
territory, where it is ambushed by a captured Confederation
Exeter-class ship. Reconnaissance ships eventually locate the
dreadnought ship suspected of carrying the prototype weapon.
The Tiger's Claw follows, and in a stunning display of deep
space logistics and fighting skill, eliminates the dreadnought.
(Secret Missions: Operation Thor's Hammer)
EARLY 2655
BATTLE OF FIREKKA
In 2653, the Confederation pledges to protect a newly
discovered bird-like race called the Firekkans, who plan to ally
with the Confederation. In the interim, a huge Kilrathi battle
fleet commanded by Prince Thrakhath and his Drakhrai Imperial
Guard moves into the Firekkan System. The fleet's intent is
unknown until the Kilrathi defector Ralgha nar Hhallas exposes a
plan to use Firekka for a religious ritual in which warriors
rededicate themselves to Sivar, the Kilrathi god of war. The
Confederation decides to disrupt the religious ceremony in
hopes of breaking enemy morale. Marine troopships jump into
the system and stage an assault on the Kilrathi priestesses.
The mission is successful, and the Tiger's Claw retreats to
Terran-controlled space under heavy Kilrathi pursuit. In short
order, Firekkan natives revolt and force the remaining Kilrathi
forces to withdraw.
(Secret Missions: Crusade)
(2653 -)2655
THE FIRST ENIGMA CAMPAIGN
Confederation forces attempt to remove the Kilrathi from
Enigma sector, where strategic jump nodes lead directly to
human core colonies. The campaign ends in failure when an
attack on the Kilrathi Enigma sector headquarter at K'Tithrak
Mang fails, and the renowned Tiger's Claw is ambushed and
destroyed by Kilrathi stealth fighters.
2657
THE BATTLE OF REPLEETAH
During the years, the focus of the Intergalactic War drifts
away from the decade-long Battle of Repleetah. Supply ships
and reinforcements have long since ceased to visit the planet.
Finally, by late 2664, only a handful of troops remain on either
side. The sole surviving Terran officer, Lieutenant Miles D'Arby,
leads his men in a last-ditch effort to overrun the Kilrathi
position. It is believed that no one lives through this last
action. The Battle of Repleetah has finally come to an end.
2664
SECOND ENIGMA CAMPAIGN
Following the disaster of the first Enigma Campaign, the
Confederation is forced onto the defensive in the Enigma
Sector. Finally, in 2664, the Confederation once again goes on
the offensive. A daring jump behind enemy lines results in the
destruction of the Kilrathi sector headquarter at K'Tithrak
Mang.
In the meantime, the Confederation forces in the Deneb Sector
are annihilated by Kilrathi forces under the direction of Crown
Prince Thrakhath.
(Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi)
2664
THE GETTYSBURG INCIDENT
Mutineers from the TCS Gettysburg take over the Rigel supply
depot. The mutiny, it seems, was sparked by the commander
of the Gettysburg ordering his crew to fire upon an unarmed
Kilrathi civilian transport. The mutineers were divided into two
factions: those who wish to continue their new careers of
piracy and those who would rather return to the Confederation,
if possible. Eventually, the pirate faction is destroyed and the
remaining mutineers return to the Confederation under pardon.
Meanwhile, several Kilrathi worlds on the front lines of the war,
in particular Ghorah Khar, defect, teh first instance of direct
insubordination of Kilrathi rule.
(Special Operations I)
2665
SOCIETY OF THE MANDARIN
The Society of Mandarin seeks for the Confederation to submit
to the Kilrathi, in hopes of assimulating the Kilrathi from the
bottom up. To achieve their goals, the Society of Mandarin has
no compunction about sabotaging the Confederation war
efforts.
Major Zack "Jazz" Colson, a talented and efficient pilot, is
linked to the Society of Mandarin and sentenced to death for
treason. Before Colson's sentence is carried out, however,
Mandarin agents manage to hijack the transport on which
Colson is held. Eventually the Mandarins are traced to their
primary base at Ayer's Rock, where they have stolen a
prototype of the new Morningstar fighter. Confederation forces
launch an attack on Ayer's Rock, destroying the Mandarin
base, killing Colson in the process, and breaking the power of
the Society of Mandarin.
(Special Operations II)
2667
HIT-AND-RUN FADE ATTACKS
Terran fleets strike hard against Kilrathi forces behind the front
lines, eliminating nine carriers under construction and crippling
dozens of transports and four shipyards. As front-line assets
dwindle, the Kilrathi were forced to retreat.
(Novel End Run)
2667 - 2668
FALSE PEACE
As the pendulum of war swings toward the Terrans, a peace
accord is unexpectedly offered by Kilrah. All Terran fleets are
withdrawn, even those in the midst of combat. In the following
months, several frontier colonies refuse to abide by the
armistice rulings, investing both ships and men in an attempt to
search out suspected active shipyards on the far side of the
Kilrathi Empire. Using captured stealth equipment, private
forces intercept a HoloVid of the rumored facility, along with a
message that the Kilrathi forces are embarking to attack Earth.
The armistice is renounced, and a hastily assembled force of
still-intact Confederation ships, bolstered with private vessels,
prepare to defend against the imminent attack.
(Novel Fleet Action)
2668
BATTLE OF TERRA
With their fleets back up to full strength, bolstered by the first
fleet of Hakaga-class supercarriers, the Kilrathi strike deep into
Confederation space. Warsaw, Gilead, and Sirius Prime are
bombed with radiation warheads, even as the Kilrathi brush
aside Confederation's hastily assembled defenses and reach
Earth. Despite the suicidal bravery of Earth's defenders, the
Kilrathi are able to bombard crucial defense centers on the
planet - Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Miami, Quebec, Berlin,
Paris, Kiev, and others - before they are finally forced to
withdraw to friendly space as a result of daring Marines, who
land aboard several Kilrathi vessels, including the Kilrathi
flagship, and destroy them with thermonuclear mines.
(Novel Fleet Action)
2668
COVERT INFILTRATION
A new secret carrier, the TCS Lexington departs from the
Goddard Transfer Station. Its mission: destroy the enemy
system by system. A self-sustaining, powerful vessel, carrying
among its crew a special unit of 62 Covert Operatives, the
carrier passes through a secret jump point into Kilrathi space.
The Lexington is not heard from thereafter, and is presumed
lost with all hands.
(Wing Commander: Armada)
2669.018
ON THE DEFENSIVE
Confederation forces battle the Kilrathi in a series of defensive
campaigns. Tired of the decades-long war, the Kilrathi Emperor
orders the use of biological weapons.
In a last-ditch effort to win the war outright, Admiral Geoffrey
Tolwyn activates the Behemoth, a huge energy gun capable of
destroying a planet. However, the Kilrathi agent Ralgha nar
Hhallas alerts the Kilrathi High Command, and the Behemoth is
ambushed and destroyed.
(Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger)
(2668 -) 2669
THE FINAL OPTION
A small band of Covert Operatives, including Colonel Jeanette
Devereaux and under the command of General James Taggert,
slip into the Kilrah System and set up a series of hidden supply
bases carved in asteroids. The group is captured and ritually
executed, but not before sending information back to the
Confederation vital data showing that Kilrah itself suffers from
tectonic instability.
A tectonic weapon, the Temblor bomb, is developed. The
bomb, if delivered with absolute accuracy, could cause a series
of oscillations under the surface of Kilrah which would literally
shake the planet apart. A small group of elite Confederation
pilots under the command of Colonel Christopher Blair, and
flying prototype Excalibur fighters with experimental cloaking
technology, manages to penetrate the Kilrathi defenses via the
secret asteroid depots, and attack Kilrah directly. Crown Prince
Thrakhath is shot down and killed by Blair, who then proceeds
to deliver the Temblor bomb and destroy Kilrah, bringing the
long conflict to an end.
(Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger)
2670
UNREST
A general period of unrest erupts along the perimeter of core
Confederation space. Border World planets, long
underrepresented in the Confederation Assembly, begin to
break away, establishing independent governments.
2671 - 2673
THE BLACK LANCE INCIDENT
Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, in an effort to maintain Confederation
military strength, unleashes a secret plan to cause all-out war
between the Confederation and the Border Worlds. Utilizing
biogenetically-enhanced soldiers, an array of secret warcraft
and materials, and biological weapons, the Black Lance
instigate attacks on Confederation civilian targets under the
guise of Border Worlds militia.
Confederation officers, led by Kilrathi War hero Colonel
Christopher Blair and Captain William Eisen, in conjunction with
Border Worlds freedom fighters, discover the deep-rooted
plans. Operating from the Border Worlds carrier BWS Intrepid,
they manage to disrupt the operation long enough for Blair to
force Tolwyn into revealing the truth in front of the Terran
Assembly. Tolwyn is found guilty of crimes against humanity,
and hangs himself while awaiting execution.
(Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom)
2673
KILRATHI PIRATE MENACE
Remnants of the Kilrathi military carry out quick strikes against
Confederation and mainstream Kilrathi forces in and around the
Kilrah System. The new megacarrier TCS Midway is dispatched
to eliminate the larger threats, which she succeeds in doing.
2681
UNKNOWN CONTACT
Confederation vessels mining ore near the remains of the planet
Kilrah send out distress calls, which cease abruptly.
Additionally, contact is lost with a small Kilrathi fleet in the
same system, which is later found obliterated, the ships' crews
torn apart. The megacarrier TCS Midway moves to investigate
the situation, with orders to then report back to High
Command. Currently, contact with the Midway has been lost...
(Wing Commander: Prophecy)
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