Christopher Blair

Christopher Blair
2630.168 - 2681.061
Christopher Blair around 2654
Callsign	Maverick
Place of birth	Nephele II
Place of death	(presumably) Nephilim wormhole gate tower, Kilrah System
Allegiance	Terran Confederation, Union of Border Worlds
Rank	Commodore
Relations	Arnold Blair (Biological father), Devi Soulsong (Biological mother), Melissa Blair (Paternal grandmother), Jennifer Blair (Aunt/Adoptive mother), Rachel Coriolis (Ex-wife)

Christopher Blair, also known as the Heart of the Tiger and the Savior of the Confederation, was one of the greatest heroes of the Terran-Kilrathi War, and was essential in preventing an all-out war during the time of the Border Worlds secession and the Black Lance affair. He was also key in the initial days of the Nephilim War where he helped push back the initial incursion before being lost and presumed dead during the destruction of the alien wormhole gate in the Kilrah System.

Formative Years

On 2630.168, Christopher Blair was born to a farmer of Pilgrim origin on the remote planet of Nephele II. However his biological parents, Arnold Blair and Devi Soulsong, were killed at Peron during Arnold's attempt to save Devi from the Pilgrim massacre of the same name. Young Christopher lived with his paternal aunt, Jennifer Blair, and her husband until his stepfather was killed in a farm accident. Jennifer went off world to find work and remarry, while Chris was left to be raised by his maternal grandparents.

As he started high school, Blair decided he wanted to be a pilot. He took up wrestling to qualify as extracurricular activities for his Academy appointment. There he qualified for all-sector and took planetary champion in his weight class. Nephele was allowed just one at-large Academy appointee every three years, so this helped him get noticed and accepted into the 2650 class at the Academy. He went on to get straight As after a B-average his first year. The plan was to originally serve the six-year Academy obligation, and use his experience to become a crop duster. He earned his callsign, "Maverick", as an ironic reference to his by-the-book approach.

Early Career

During the end of his regular Academy career he served on the Exeter-Class Destroyer, TCS Formidable, in 2653 and then graduated with an honors electronic engineering degree. After a brief tour on the TCS Gilgamesh he then went on to Flight School at Sirius finished on the TCS Tiger's Claw under the supervision of Geoffrey Tolwyn and James Taggart in 2654. It was around this time he began to explore his latent Pilgrim powers. Often the source of discrimination and ridicule and derived from his mother’s genes, Blair struggled to come to grips with his uncanny cockpit intuition and extrasensory perception. Not long after his posting to the Tiger's Claw, the young pilot helped to stop an insurrection incited by discontented Pilgrims within the Confederation itself.

His participation in the Vega Campaign brought victory for the Confederation. Shortly thereafter, the Tiger's Claw responded to a distress call from the Goddard colony. Unfortunately, they arrived too late: the colony had been destroyed by a Kilrathi super-weapon. Blair and the rest of the Claw pilots pursued the enemy ship into Kilrathi space and destroyed it and the shipyards that created it.

Blair also had a central role in protecting the Confederation's interests in the Firekka system, as well as the Firekkan people from genocide at the hand of the Kilrathi Cult of Sivar by volunteering to fly a captured Dralthi fighter in order to infiltrate the nearby Kilrathi space patrols.

Tragedy

Tragedy struck when Kilrathi stealth Strakha fighters destroyed the TCS Tiger’s Claw on its attack approach to the K'tithrak Mang star base in the Enigma Sector. A small number of pilots on patrol survived, and Blair was the only survivor in the immediate vicinity. His missing flight recorder disc and stories of invisible stealth fighters earned him the scorn of Admiral Tolwyn. He was convicted of negligence and relegated to the backwater Caernarvon Station in the Gwenydd System for nine years. In 2657 Janet Williamson wrote "A Treacherous Hero" about his supposed betrayal of the Tiger's Claw. It remained on best-seller lists for over a year. Later, the Digital Holovid Company from New Las Vegas, Nevada, Earth created a dramatized holovid of the story.

Vindication

On 2665.110 a Kilrathi attack forced Blair to come to the aid of the flagship TCS Concordia under the command Geoffrey Tolwyn, the officer who had court-martialed him after the Tiger's Claw disaster. Desperate circumstances and the influence of Wing Commander Jeannette Devereaux helped Blair stay aboard where he was able to vindicate himself by identifying Zachary Colson as the traitor responsible for the destruction of the Tiger's Claw. During his service on the Concordia, Blair began a romantic relationship with Devereaux, and ultimately helped to win the Enigma Sector for the Confederation by destroying the Kilrathi base at K'tithrak Mang. Later, it was revealed that this was a strategic move on the part of the Kilrathi to take Confederation Deneb Sector headquarters.

Working with James Taggart aboard the specially refitted Bonnie Heather, Blair transferred to the Special Operations Division and was instrumental in consolidating gains in Enigma and in assisting rebelling Kilrathi worlds. While working with Maniac's Wild Eagles Squadron in testing the new F-95 Morningstar fighter, a Mandarin plot was revealed. Mandarin saboteurs sprung Zachary Colson from the TCS Bastille and compromised the test squadron, stealing one of the prized Morningstars for their own use. Blair and Maniac were able to destroy the pirate base at Ayer's Rock, and later Blair dueled Colson to the death.

In the time that followed aboard the Concordia he averaged 400 kills per year. Some three years as Wing Commander on the Concordia resulted in a dangerous run to the Battle of Earth with a temporary job on the TCS Tarawa in between. During the great battle, his ship took a missile and he was subsequently grounded for six months. During that time the Concordia went down on Vespus where Blair and Jeannette Devereaux had once taken a week's leave together. By the time Blair was fit for duty, humanity's situation had become increasingly desperate.

Victory

On 2669.203, Blair took command of the fighter wing aboard the TCS Victory. Little did he know this was part of a larger plan by Admiral Tolwyn to position a crack team to escort the TCS Behemoth super-weapon to Kilrah. Blair was bitter over the move, and the holo-transmission of Devereaux he received from Rollins was the first communication between them in months. He had no intention to retire or take himself off the front lines, but after complaints about his exclusive flying with Ralgha nar Hhallas and occasional mistakes, he wondered if he should command the wing from a desk. Ultimately, Tolwyn's plans were revealed, and although Blair was against such weapons he took their mission to heart. After the catastrophic destruction of the Behemoth, Prince Thrakhath transmitted a video of Devereaux’s death to Blair. Emotionally destroyed, he felt confined on the Victory and Rachel Coriolis was one of the few people on the ship he'd felt comfortable with. In the mean time, Ralgha was reverted to an underlying identity loyal to the Kilrathi Crown Prince. Ralgha attempted to escape but Blair was forced to track him down and destroy his fighter.

When hope was all but lost, James Taggart arrived on the Victory with a last-ditch plan to destroy Kilrah using much of the infrastructure laid out by Devereaux’s mission. Blair was able to drop a tectonic frequency weapon known as the Y22A-1 Temblor Bomb and shatter Kilrah from the core. Thrakhath’s aid Melek surrendered to Blair personally on behalf of the Empire thus ending the forty-year war.

Post-Kilrathi War

With the end of the War, Blair was considered the 11th greatest ace of the conflict on the basis of kills alone. He was the number one all-time record holder for Kilrathi ace kills and the most decorated officer. This is actually a significant revelation considering only two pilots on that list (Blair and Todd Marshall) entered service after Custer's Carnival in 2644. All 38 other top Confederation pilots were from the first half of the war when Kilrathi defensive technology was not as advanced and were more prone to throwing numbers at their enemy.

After a short time serving in the diplomatic corps, Blair married Rachel Coriolis and became a farmer in the southern regions of Nephele II to fulfill his original, simpler ambitions. Sadly, the marriage ended poorly. The farm was never a success and Blair was on the verge of bankruptcy despite receiving half-pay for remaining in the Space Force Reserves and royalties from the “Treacherous Hero” holovid. On 2673.218, Blair had a meeting with Todd Marshall at the Nephele II star port who recalled him to active service under Emergency Decree 394A.

On battle station Orion, Tolwyn explained the new situation to Blair and dispatched him to the TCS Lexington under Captain Eisen. The missions they flew had odd discrepancies and Eisen was mysteriously removed from command. The new captain and accompanying crew that came forced Blair to join the defecting Eisen to the Union of Border Worlds on 2673.220. Blair worked to uncover a new plot unraveling from the Confederation.

Blair was given command of the BWS Intrepid when Eisen left to seek help from a few remaining friends in Confederation High Command. Ultimately Blair infiltrated a secret organization instigating war between the Confederation and Border Worlds under the direction of Admiral Tolwyn. Black Lance genetically enhanced pilots perpetuating the attacks were actually patterned off of Blair's DNA, making Blair a "first generation" genetically enhanced soldier. With the help of Eisen’s friends in the Confederation, they were able to uncover Tolwyn’s illegal bio-weapons and manipulations to stop the staged war from happening.

After the Border Worlds Conflict, Blair was promoted to Brigadier General and commanded the Confederation fleet. He then spent several years teaching at the Academy and authored some simulation missions, among other things. Taggart, as chairman of the Confederation Senate's Armed Forces Committee, asked Blair to act as Senior Operational Consultant for the new mega-carrier program. Blair's commission was transferred from Space Forces to Navy with a promotion to Commodore and he played a significant role in the new ship's design.

During her maiden voyage, the new mega-carrier TCS Midway encountered a new alien threat, the Nephilim, emanating from a wormhole gate in the Kilrah System. As the only carrier in the area, the Midway was dispatched to render the Kilrathi aid. After young pilot Lance Casey's wingman died, Blair volunteered to fly his wing for an important mission in the T'lan Meth System. He was captured aboard the Dula 7 Star Base, apparently alive and held captive for some sort of interrogation. Marines from the Midway later stormed the captured base and rescued him back. His interrogation dredged up memories of Telamon, Tolwyn, Kilrah, Devereaux and other tragedies. The Nephilim were apparently interested in the human ability to kill without pity and remorse, and they allowed the marines to find Blair. The flight surgeon and Captain Wilford cleared him to fly again, but CAG Drake refused. An emergency forced him to fly out to the Wormhole Gate, and he was unable to return from the stabilizing tower when it collapsed.

On 2681.061, Sol Sector Governor Cavazos delivered to the public the news that Commodore Blair was officially missing in action and presumed dead. Though no remains were recovered, a memorial service was held in Sol in New York City and Nephele Prime at Hightower Flats, with his favorite music group, tHE lOVE aNIMALS, performing. Live testimonials were heard from as far as Repleetah and the Avalon System. His farm on Nephele was to become a historical site with a "Heart of the Tiger" memorial and museum of military history.

Citations

• Bronze Star: 2654
• Silver Star: 2654
• Gold Star: 2654
• Terran Confederation Medal of Honor: 2654 (for his conduct above and beyond the call of duty during the final assault on the Kilrathi Vega Sector HQ in Venice system)

Behind the Scenes

Christopher Blair, is the main player character in the first four Wing Commander games, and their expansions. He is also central to the Wing Commander Academy animated TV show and The Wing Commander Movie. He has a small, but significant, role in Wing Commander Prophecy as mentor to the new player character, and appears in the game and movie novelizations.

Originally, Blair was an unnamed character that the player can name himself or herself. In the first PC game, after the opening arcade scene, the player has the freedom to choose the character's surname and callsign. The Origin development team designated the player character as 'Bluehair', perhaps due to the blue coloring of his hair. In Ultimate Strategy Guide for Wing Commander I & II, the character was named 'Carl T. LaFong' and earned the nickname Prankster during his Academy years. In the Super Wing Commander (a remake of the first game made for Macintosh and 3DO), the character is named Jason Armstrong. In the novel End Run, the character had a small cameo as the pilot Phoenix.

In WC2, the freedom to choose the player character's first name was added. In WC3, his surname was Blair (perhaps a shortening of Bluehair) and his first name became Christopher (after Chris Roberts, the series' creator). In WC3, the player still has the freedom to choose his callsign. Blair's canonical callsign was eventually revealed to be Maverick in the Wing Commander III novelization, and is used as such in Wing Commander Academy (TV), and Wing Commander Prophecy. The WC4 load-out terminal also uses the callsign Maverick by default unless the player enters a new one at the start of the game. The same applies to the movie novelization (with a reference to the 20th century film Top Gun as a possible inspiration for the callsign), but in the sequel Pilgrim Stars, Blair deliberately chose Pilgrim as his callsign. In the Wing Commander IV novelization, Blair also used 'The Heart of the Tiger' for his radio callsign, in case he ran into Kilrathi pilots who may be intimidated by his status.