First to Terra

frostytheplebe

Seventh Part of the Seal
We all know about the "First to Kilrah" being the TCS Tarawa, but what was the first Kilrathi ship to reach Sol? Was it that Snakier that chased Blair into the gravity well? Or was there another, earlier ship like a scout fighter or something?
 
first to Sol or first to Terra? There is a bit of difference. :>

An entire Kilrathi fleet reached Sol in the movie but they were all obliterated one by one.

I don't know what Kilrathi ship was the first to reach Earth.
 
In the same sense as the Tarawa it would have probably been Jukaga's cruiser squadron, which bombed the moon and Earth itself. The Snakeir was probably the first Kilrathi ship to enter the Sol System and then there was probably some technical first around the start of the false peace (delivering the ambassador or somesuch.)
 
The cool thing about the Tarawa was that it made it to kilrah and back. Did any of the kilrathi ships that hit Terra make it back home to fight again?
 
I remember that Jukaga's ship was destroyed by Terran torpedoes but also that they wouldn't have destroyed the ships in time if Jukaga hadn't stopped the launch of the final strike.
 
That's correct - Jukaga prevented the final launch and his ship was then destroyed. Presumably, no one 'in' the Wing Commander universe knows this - although Tolwyn is seen wondering about what happened at the end of the book.
 
That's correct - Jukaga prevented the final launch and his ship was then destroyed. Presumably, no one 'in' the Wing Commander universe knows this - although Tolwyn is seen wondering about what happened at the end of the book.

IIRC, he mentions it only in passing (to himself) on p.293 that 'the only bright spot was that for some reason the Cats had not launched a wave of strontium-clad thermonukes. England had been spared as well, though it seemed at the moment ot be an almost selfish thing to think about'. He doesn't seem to wonder why they didn't launch the nukes, and is merely thankful they didn't. The only mention he makes of Jukaga is how the Baron was probably the only Cat who understood that a Human could only be pushed so far before they would rather die than submit... which is something that Thrakath didn't care about, and indeed tried to use to his advantage when luring Blair into a fight with the tape of Angel's execution.

Thrakath is probably the only person who suspects why the last wave of nukes never got off - after all, he's the one who threw Thrakath into 'command' of the cruiser group, but even he only suspects how far the 'human-lover' may have gone in order to either thwart Thrakath and his grandfather, or else he may have decided to take a stand against the senseless destruction of worlds (as Jukaga saw it).
 
Thrakath is probably the only person who suspects why the last wave of nukes never got off - after all, he's the one who threw Thrakath into 'command' of the cruiser group, but even he only suspects how far the 'human-lover' may have gone in order to either thwart Thrakath and his grandfather, or else he may have decided to take a stand against the senseless destruction of worlds (as Jukaga saw it).
I assume the second mention of 'Thrakath' (sic) there is meant to be Jukaga. ;)
 
after all, he's the one who threw Thrakath into 'command' of the cruiser group, but even he only suspects how far the 'human-lover' may have gone in order to either thwart Thrakath and his grandfather, or else he may have decided to take a stand against the senseless destruction of worlds


I think you mean Jukaga in this part of your statement, right?

I don't know that he was in 'command' of anything, but he was certainly given the VIP seat on the point of the spear, so to speak ;)
 
Yes, I meant Baron Jukaga the second time. And Jukaga was 'in command' at that point, albeit more as a figurehead than anything - remembering that the Emperor had ordered Thrakath to get rid of Jukaga somewhere along the way.
 
IIRC, he mentions it only in passing (to himself) on p.293 that 'the only bright spot was that for some reason the Cats had not launched a wave of strontium-clad thermonukes. England had been spared as well, though it seemed at the moment ot be an almost selfish thing to think about'. He doesn't seem to wonder why they didn't launch the nukes, and is merely thankful they didn't.

The 'some reason' indicates that he realizes that *something* happened to stop them from firing their last set of weapons - he just doesn't know what. If he belived that the Landreichers had destroyed the cruisers quickly enough then it wouldn't be an issue. Given his previous conversation with Jukaga, he seems the most likely to figure out exactly what happened...

Thrakath is probably the only person who suspects why the last wave of nukes never got off - after all, he's the one who threw Thrakath into 'command' of the cruiser group, but even he only suspects how far the 'human-lover' may have gone in order to either thwart Thrakath and his grandfather, or else he may have decided to take a stand against the senseless destruction of worlds (as Jukaga saw it).

The situation doesn't seem to have been noted by Thrakhath; his reaction seen just before the end of the book is that at least Jukaga is dead.

Also, it's important to note that Jukaga didn't save Earth because he loved humanity - he did it because he realized that the human reaction to such an act would be the quickest way possible to a Kilrathi defeat.

Yes, I meant Baron Jukaga the second time. And Jukaga was 'in command' at that point, albeit more as a figurehead than anything - remembering that the Emperor had ordered Thrakath to get rid of Jukaga somewhere along the way.

It's not clear that Jukaga is 'in command.' His assignment is given off screen and all the Emperor orders is that he be given a position of honor. He's definately not literally commanding the cruisers during the final attack... a Kilrathi captain gives the orders for the ships to target and fire their antimatter weapons.
 
The 'some reason' indicates that he realizes that *something* happened to stop them from firing their last set of weapons - he just doesn't know what. If he belived that the Landreichers had destroyed the cruisers quickly enough then it wouldn't be an issue. Given his previous conversation with Jukaga, he seems the most likely to figure out exactly what happened...

He knows that they didn't get the strontium-90 nukes off, nor a second wave of antimatter missiles, and is very thankful that this was the case. He didn't appear to be brooding on the matter, given that he was busy thinking about how many people had been lost due to the civilian government as well as the high-ranking traitors who rammed through orders which defanged the Confederation Fleet even as it gave time for Thrakath to rearm and rebuild his previously-depleted forces.

And you're right - he's probably the only one who would suspect that someone had stopped the nukes, but at the moment he'd had other things on his mind; the heavy casualties, Kevin's MIA status, the near-total annihilation of several colony worlds, and how Thrakath had seriously underestimated them... and how much it'd cost the Confederation to stop this last incursion. As he noted himself, the Confederation had 'shot its bolt' and now was going to be scraping the barrel in order to pull together the forces needed to successfully prosecute the war. They'd lost their advantage, several shipyards, and a whole lot of crews and carriers in order to halt the advance, and would be in dire straits should Thrakath get the rest of his fleet online (which he did by WC3, a year later).

The situation doesn't seem to have been noted by Thrakhath; his reaction seen just before the end of the book is that at least Jukaga is dead.

Again, neither Tolwyn or Thrakath were thinking too deeply about what had just happened; one was thankful that the nukes didn't go off, while the other was shocked both by his defeat as well as the fact that he'd lost another opportunity to push the war to a successful conclusion, as his father had back during the early days of the war. In both situations, one more carrier would've been the crucial reserve that could have pushed both fleets to victory. Although, to be fair to Prince Gilkarg, Admiral Nargth was as much to blame for the defeat as his father was - if they'd pushed on with most of the battleships to intercept the suicidal run that shot down all those transports, they could've probably taken and held McAuliffe, then finished off the remnants of Task Force 21 and Seventh Fleet.

But at least Thrakath knew the Baron was on that ship, and had been against the nukings. He would've probably been able to come to the same conclusion that Tolwyn may have (eventually) come to, given that he had similar information (if not the private communique between Tolwyn and Jukaga, where the latter basically apologized for what was about to happen to Warsaw).

Also, it's important to note that Jukaga didn't save Earth because he loved humanity - he did it because he realized that the human reaction to such an act would be the quickest way possible to a Kilrathi defeat.

No, he didn't love Terra or humans, but neither did he want to see them wiped out. Remember that he wanted to use them and their resources to stand against the Mantu; that's why he argued for trying to get them to surrender, and why he pleaded with Tolwyn, then the Senate, to surrender and save their worlds. They would be useful, given their numbers and inventiveness, even as they were dangerous because of them.

It's not clear that Jukaga is 'in command.' His assignment is given off screen and all the Emperor orders is that he be given a position of honor. He's definately not literally commanding the cruisers during the final attack... a Kilrathi captain gives the orders for the ships to target and fire their antimatter weapons.

No, Jukaga's not in command - but he was initially put in with the fleet as a representative of the clans, and because the Emperor wanted him disposed of after his failed assassination attempt. He was there to hold the flag, and to make sure someone witnessed the victory in the name of the rest of the clans. But at the same time, he was put in there as an important figure, which given his reluctance to nuke the Terrans, made his position as an observer/etc of their destruction more 'fitting' in the eyes of the Emperor, I suspect.
 
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