History Literature / WingCommander

Once upon a time, there was a Space FlightSim VideoGame called ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', by Chris Roberts (''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'', ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'') and Origin Systems (''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Crusader}}''). It had relatively arcade-ish qualities, but also featured a fairly in-depth plot and a real sense of consequence due to persistent NPC deaths and StoryBranching. It caught on, spawning five distinct sequels, three {{Gaiden Game}}s, a number of {{Expansion Pack}}s, a [[WesternAnimation/WingCommanderAcademy Saturday-morning cartoon]] and even a [[Film/WingCommander live-action movie]]. All that was left... were books.

* '''Freedom Flight''' by author MercedesLackey and Origin employee Ellen Guon, is a POVSequel to the ''Wing1'' ExpansionPack "Secret Missions 2: Crusade," in which the Confederation was called upon to defend the planet Firekka, which the Kilrathi have occupied for use in a religious ritual involving the mass sacrifice of lots and lots of slaves. While players fly the missions, the novel focuses on the ground resistance through four SwitchingPOV characters: {{Non Player Character}}s James "Paladin" Taggart and Ian "Hunter" St. John; Kirha, a Kilrathi servant to DefectorFromDecadence Ralgha ''nar'' Hhallas; and K'Kai, a Firekkan native.

** In the novels, a few references indicate that they take certain movie stars to have been the people they portrayed in their films (one character was confused at how JohnWayne seemed to have served in multiple jobs) although there is some confusion about why the "historical evidence" (movies) is so self-contradictory.

* SpaceshipSlingshotStunt: ''End Run'' features an escort carrier making a raid BehindEnemyLines in the [[CatFolk Kilrathi]] home system of Kilrah that uses a gravity slingshot around a gas giant in the system to make an escape after sustaining significant damage during the raid. However, the configuration of the system and the nature of [[PortalNetwork FTL travel]] in the ''Wing Commander'' universe means that the only escape path using that slingshot is a string of single-exit star systems before making it to a Confed-held system.

** In a probable nod to ''Film/EnemyMine'', the Kilrathi think BugsBunny is some kind of important figure, and sometimes insult him in an attempt to taunt human pilots, much to the amusement of the humans. According to Bear, Hobbes was heartbroken when informed of the unintended humor.

* '''False Colors''': co-written by Andrew Keith, though the cover mistakenly says "William H. Keith". An "interquel" between ''Heart of the Tiger'' and ''Price of Freedom'', this book details the adventures of Jason Bondarevsky, serving with the Free Republic of the Landreich, and his ship, now renamed the FLRS ''Independence'', to stop separate conspiracies by both humans ''and'' Kilrathi to restart the war. It was meant to be the beinning of a trilogy, but Keith's AuthorExistenceFailure brought an end to that.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: A planned sequel to ''False Colors'', helping to fill in some of the gap between that novel's events and the start of ''Wing Commander IV'', was canceled due to the death of co-author Andrew Keith in 1999.

* '''End Run''' marked the beginning of WilliamRForstchen's dominance over the franchise's novels; ''every'' novel on this page is either authored or co-authored by him unless otherwise marked. It takes place in two parts. The first, "Milk Run," is written by Christopher Stasheff, detailing a recon mission to identify a Kilrathi cultural site. The second, "End Run," details a strike to destroy that site, causing the Kilrathi fleet to rush headlong into a trap. Jason "Bear" Bondarevsky, fresh from his introduction in "Secret Missions 1," is assigned to the TCS ''Tarawa'', which, while the Kilrathi are on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge over the desecrated site, travel to their home planet, Kilrah, and cause as much chaos as possible. The ''Tarawa'' will be "First To Kilrah," but since the ship is barely more than a heavy freighter with a flight deck stapled on, this is likely to be a OneWayTrip...

* NomDeGuerre: As the series centers mostly on pilots, the examples are many. [[IronicNickname Maverick]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Maniac]], [[TheStoic Iceman]], [[TheEeyore Doomsday]], [[ShoutOut Hobbes]], etc. At one point, the narration pauses to reflect on whether or not it's a good thing for your callsign to describe your state of mind.

A series of novels were authorized by Origin to fill in the blanks left by the games or otherwise [[ExpandedUniverse expand on the setting]]. Published by BaenBooks, some of them were novelizations ([=WC3, WC4=], and [[Film/WingCommander the movie]]), but a majority of them were original stories, though as part of the official universe the various works all reflect on one another. In publication order:

* '''Pilgrim Truth''' details the adventures of the PowerTrio as they attempt to prevent a genocide against the Pilgrims, as prompted by the events of the previous novel. In 2000 it was canceled before publication; in August 2011 it was finally made available through some bargaining by both ElectronicArts and the [[http://www.wcnews.com Wing Commander Combat Information Center]], the franchise's major fansite. It can be [[http://www.wcnews.com/news/2011/08/11/pilgrim-truth-released read there for free]].

* TheMutiny: Heavily foreshadowed in ''End Run'', due to the ''Tarawa's'' commander being woefully incompetent, and many of the ship's officers quietly informing Colonel Bondarevsky that they expect him to take charge if they are to survive. Ultimately averted, due to the captain being abruptly killed in battle, resulting in YouAreInCommandNow instead.

* {{Ramscoop}}: According to the novelizations, most capital ships and fighters refuel in flight by hydrogen ramscoops, except for the ''Excalibur'' and ''Dragon'' models, which use {{antimatter}} drives.

* SaltTheEarth: In ''Fleet Action'', the Kilrathi build a fleet of super carriers and begin a seemingly inexorable push into human space. Along the way they bombard any human planets with Strontium-90 clad thermonuclear weapons that ensure that the planets will be uninhabitable. Even if the Kilrathi had succeeded, they would have gained little because they would have had no use for the conquered territory. Of course, this was precisely the point, and was the cause of an EnemyCivilWar among the Kilrathi that ultimately prevented Earth from being obliterated.

* YouAreInCommandNow: the captain of the ''Tarawa'' is a politically-appointed officer and quite clearly does not have the testicular fortitude to command the End Run. Subverted in that Bear is warned, by quite a few people, that he's going to ''have'' to take over if anyone intends to survive, but before Bear actually gets to the point where he is willing to [[TheMutiny relieve the Captain and take charge]], the Captain (and most of the bridge crew) are killed during a battle.

A series of novels were authorized by Origin to fill in the blanks left by [[VideoGame/WingCommander the games]] or otherwise [[ExpandedUniverse expand on the setting]]. Published by BaenBooks, some of them were novelizations ([=WC3, WC4=], and [[Film/WingCommander the movie]]), but a majority of them were original stories, though as part of the official universe the various works all reflect on one another. In publication order:

** ''End Run'' is basically the Wing Commander version of the 1942 Doolittle raid on Tokyo.

** ''Action Stations'' is an almost painfully obvious reflection the RealLife attack on Pearl Harbor.

* CatsAreMean: They're not any more kind in the novels than they are in the games.

* '''Action Stations''': a StoryWithinAStory, this is a fictionalized account, written by a Confed historian, of the "McAuliffe Ambush," the Pearl Harbor-esque sneak attack that opened the Terran-Kilrathi War; it was published just a few (in-universe) years after the events of ''The Price of Freedom'' and is its author's attempt to explain why Geoffrey Tolwyn became a WellIntentionedExtremist.

* FalseFlagOperation: as mentioned, the Cats' "ISurrenderSuckers" plot in ''Fleet Action''. This is met by a ''counter'' FalseFlagOperation in which Tolwyn persecutes his attack of a Kilrathi carrier despite the armistice having already been signed, allowing Confed to dishonorably discharge him for being a MilitaryMaverick. He then goes to the Landreich as a (politically) FakeDefector and launches the recon op into Kilrathi space... All whilst operating under secret orders to do all these things and confirm whether the armistice is a ploy or not.

A series of novels were authorized by Origin to fill in the blanks left by [[VideoGame/WingCommander the games]] or otherwise [[ExpandedUniverse expand on the setting]]. Some of these were novelizations ([=WC3, WC4=], and [[Film/WingCommander the movie]]), but a majority of them were original stories, though as part of the official universe the various works all reflect on one another. In publication order:

* '''End Run''' marked the beginning of WilliamRForstchen's dominance over the franchise's novels; ''everything'' from here on out is either authored or co-authored by him unless otherwise marked. It takes place in two parts. The first, "Milk Run," is written by Christopher Stasheff, detailing a recon mission to identify a Kilrathi cultural site. The second, "End Run," details a strike to destroy that site, causing the Kilrathi fleet to rush headlong into a trap. Jason "Bear" Bondarevsky, fresh from his introduction in "Secret Missions 1," is assigned to the TCS ''Tarawa'', which will (while the Kilrathi are distracted) travel to their home planet, Kilrah, and cause as much chaos as possible. The ''Tarawa'' will be "First To Kilrah," but since the ship is barely more than a heavy freighter with a flight deck stapled on, this is likely to be a OneWayTrip...

* YouAreInCommandNow: the captain of the ''Tarawa'' is a political officer and quite clearly does not have the testicular fortitude to command the End Run. Subverted in that Bear is warned, by quite a few people, that he's going to ''have'' to take over if anyone intends to survive.

* BigDamnHeroes:
** [[TheCavalry The Landreich forces]] in ''Fleet Action'', during the Battle of Terra, saving Earth from being made uninhabitable by "dirty" nukes.
** Admiral Tolwyn's task force in the climax of ''End Run'', rescuing the ''Tarawa'' after her behind-the-lines raid on Kilrah's moon.

* SpaceFriction: While the games themselves obey game-friendly atmospheric physics, the novels avert this by allowing fighters and capital ships to undergo indefinite acceleration (finite fuel supplies notwithstanding).

** The Landreich forces in ''Fleet Action'', during the Battle of Terra, saving Earth from being made uninhabitable by "dirty" nukes.

** In ''Fleet Action'' they probably have their collective CrowningMomentOfAwesome, when they board a fleet of super-powerful carriers against which the normal weapons (torpedoes delivered by fighters) were nearly useless due to their extreme armor and shielding, for the purpose of detonating antimatter mines inside the carriers. Naturally, this is somewhat less than survivable for the SpaceMarines in question, but when the alternative is TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt...
*** The Confederation Marines' commander, General Grecko, is so badass that when a [[SuicideAttack bomb]] blows up the entire floor of the building he is on, he is still fit to go into combat the next day, minus a prosthetic arm [[PocketProtector that luckily helped shield him from the blast]].

** CatsAreMean: [[{{Squick}} Don't read the novalization for ''Heart of the Tiger.'']] [[TakeOueWordForIt Just don't.]]

* FutureImperfect: In William R. Forstchen's Wing Commander novels, a few references indicate that they take certain movie stars to have been the people they portrayed in their films (one character was confused at how JohnWayne seemed to have served in multiple jobs) although there is some confusion about why the "historical evidence" (movies) is so self-contradictory. Additionally, the Kilrathi think BugsBunny is some kind of important figure, and sometimes insult him in an attempt to taunt human pilots, much to the amusement of the humans. According to Bear, Hobbes was heartbroken when informed of the unintended humor.
** That's most likely a reference to ''Enemy Mine'', where the human jokingly quotes Mickey Mouse and the Drak never understands that he isn't really a human philosopher. In the movie, at least, this leads to a half-heartwarming, half-hilarious scene where the human, in an argument, exclaims, "Well maybe ''you'' forgot about what you said about Mickey Mouse!" and the Drak apologizes.

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The novel ''Action Stations'' is, per the foreword, a reconstruction of the events surrounding the 2634 attack on [=McAuliffe=] that kicked off the [[CatFolk Kilrathi]] War, written by a post-''Wing Commander IV'' historian trying to give a more complete picture of what made Admiral Tolwyn what he was.
** Which also nicely explains the numerous continuity errors in the novel. [[FridgeBrilliance It was written something like three or four decades after the fact.]]

* NuclearOption: In ''Fleet Action'', the [[CatFolk Kilrathi]] use Strontium-90 clad nuclear weapons to render several human worlds uninhabitable, and nearly succeed at doing so to Earth before Krueger's BigDamnHeroes moment.

* SpaceMarines: While they get relatively brief mention in the games, the Terran Confederation Marine Corps plays an important part of several of the novels.

* SubspaceAnsible: Heightened stellar activity can interfere with FTL communications in the ''Wing Commander'' universe, as shown in ''Action Stations'', but otherwise, the only time there's significant time lag for communicating across interstellar distances is the human steps relaying transmitted messages to/from the comm system and the people ultimately at either end of the line.
** No such limitations are mentioned in the game, FTL communication is just ''there''.