I was just wondering what the diplomatic situation between Confed and the BWS was following the Black Lance incident. Were any reparations made to the Border Worlds? Like the stolen Space Lab? I know they weren't allowed to keep the Princeton, but what about the Dragon fighters, the leeched cruiser and the Bearcats?
Well, here's the thing -- take a good long look at that 'stolen' Space Lab and tell me what logo is painted on the hull.
It's either the 27th century home of Origin Systems or was a Confederation space lab to start out with.
We actually *don't* know about the Princeton (it's never mentioned again) -- but we do know that the Mt. St. Helens (seen/lost in Secret Ops) and the Intrepid apparently returned to Confederation colors.
In Prophecy the BWS is referred to as being quiet for quite some time. Did they become Xenophobic and just break off ties with Confed?
No, 'quiet' in this sense just means that there's not a war going on there. There is apparently a very deep relationship between the Confederation and the Union of Border Worlds. Take a look at this ISDN from the Secret Ops fiction:
https://www.wcnews.com/articles/sofiction/p_2_isdn.html
Remember that the Hellespont is a *Union of Border Worlds* star system in 2681... and yet it's relying on the Confederation for both defense *and* reconstruction.
That's probably just Blair helping train BW pilots as a gesture of good-will. The UBW is still independent during Prophecy, and Intrepid is so out of date that I can't think of any reason for Confed to ask for her.
It's a nice thought, but I doubt it: *no one* aboard is wearing a Border Worlds flight suit or uniform (Blair, Maniac, Panther, pilots) and the ship is in the Sol System (and the head of the Confederation Senate is onboard.)
(There's a scene in the Wing Commander IV novel where Paladin mentions that the simple fact that the Border Worlds have an active carrier will be enough to convince the Confederation to go to war.)
Just out of curiosity, what confirmation do we have that the UBW ends up independent? Is there some reference to this in any of the novels (IE: False Colors)?
Well, it actually happens in Wing Commander IV -- the Union declares independance and then your goal in the game is to prevent the Confederation from going to war over the issue. An off-screen 'whoops, nevermind' would be somewhat odd.
... that said, you'll find the first post-Wing commander IV confirmation with Prophecy's Wing Commander Universe Map, which shows the Union of Border Worlds as a separate star nation.