Actually, Blair's kill list was technically in the Billions. He did destroy a planet full of civilians.
Do you know what 'technical' means? As in employing the specific methodology of something? Because the *technical* definition of kill score is the number enemy fighters and capital ships destroyed in air to air combat -- *not* the number of enemy killed. Vaktoth's don't count as two because they have two crew members, Bhanktara's don't as count as 5,000 because they have 5,000 crew members and planets don't count as whatever number you made up because they have whatever number you made up people on them.
On the subject of Blair and Maniac, I suggest you examine their Academy standings...
We can gain a rough estimate of Blair's kill score because we know that (as of pre-WCP) Maniac's is exactly 2,000 (ICIS Manual). Since Maniac is 14th and Blair is 13th, we can know only that it is above 2,000. The top 11 are *not* pre-war ace's, as has been assumed at this board thus far. They are pre-Carnival aces -- they scored all of their kills between 2634 and 2649... when shield technology was significantly limited and the Kilrathi were more prone to suicide attacks. This is stated fairly clearly in the WCP Guide.
There was a war with the Yan, 116 years before the Terran Confederation was formed.
On the subject of the Black Lance...
Firstoff, Quarto is incorrect in assuming that the concluding Wing Commander IV Senate debate was broadcast live to the entier Confederation. We are told in Secret Ops that sector-wide broadcasts are the widest possible -- and in the Wing Commander IV novel that it takes three days for the most urgent of news reports (ironically, an important Senate debate) to reach Nephele. We must further note that such broadcasts are made possible by the Terran Confederation's network of signal buoys and relay stations. I find it incredibly doubtful that the military would be stupid enough to build a relay network leading their top-secret research installations...
Now, the issue of the locations of the Lances. Sadly, SubCrid Death was incorrect in his initial information, leading to a series of impossible assumptions by all others present. There were four *wings* of Project craft -- one of which was destroyed at the Speradon Weapons Factory, one of which was captured onboard the Princeton and two of which accompanied the TCS Vesuvius to Sol. There were *no* Lances left at Axius to be hidden away.
Further, I find it hard to believe that I'm the only person who sees that such an action would be utterly impossible... the Lance is a carrier based fighter! How far would you expect to get with a stolen F-14? Even if I manage to land it at my rogue mile-long landing strip hiddin in Nevada (please apply generous amounts of sarcasm), I'm not going to keep it flying very long. Such a ship -- ignoring the fact that it would stick out like a sore thumb -- requires munitions and a team of workers to keep it flying. Recall, if you will, that every Confederation fighter must be torn apart and rebuilt for every 1,000 hours of flight time (End Run)!
I believe the misconception that anyone can take any fighter and do whatever they like with it stems from Privateer... please remember that although a Centurion may be 'hot stuff' compared to a Drayman, it's actually a light transport ship to the current top-of-the-line military craft. Further, ships belonging to Privateers are specifically designed for their missions...
Now, I will grant you that there are Project personel hidden... since Tolwyn specifically states as much in the Wing Commander IV novel -- but I will also note that Tolwyn *also* specifically states that they are not self sufficient and that The Project was a failure.
I feel I must address the issues of the various Project technologies...
Re: Flash Pack. As we see in Wing Commander IV itself (in the case of the Vesuvius class Heavy Fleet Carriers) the technology to render the flash pack useless *already* exists. It is more than safe to assume that all newly produced ships (post-WCIV) are composed of an alloy similar to that of the Vesuvius. The assumption that the flash pack could be adapated to work with this new alloy is utterly baseless...
Re: Cloaking Device. Two different anti-cloaking devices exist. In 2669 (Proving Grounds) the Confederation developed a weapon capable of nullifying the Kilrathi cloak... and in Wing Commander IV the Project's Lance mounts a device capable of 'seeing' cloaked fighters. As a fun side-note, a VDU cinematic was removed from Prophecy which explained that the Piranha's cloaking device had no effect on the Nephilim.
Re: Bipweapons. Doubtlessly, the research is stored by the Confederation... but it will certainly never, ever be used to produce such weapons. Such weapons are *primarily* a tool of public relations... the Kilrathi used them in hopes of inspiring fear -- but instead united the Confederation against an 'evil' enemy. The Confederation could not turn around and use the same weapons without tearing itself apart.
Finally, someone brought up the topic of the Confederation Senate's involvement in relation to the 'super-weapons' (T-Bomb, Behemoth, Project) versus their involvement in post-war military spending. Note two things...
1) Until 2673 the Confederation was under a state of martial law -- standard practices could be circumvented to support the war effort.
2) The Senate may well have approved the Behemoth, T-Bomb and Black Lance Project... without knowing it. While fighting the Kilrathi they would almost certainlyy be willing to give funds to classified military projects -- and significantly less likely to do so in the post-war era.
Regarding Axius... I do not believe it was destroyed -- for the simple reason that it is, according to Wilford, as close to invulnerable as possible
Various other important notes...
- Fighters do not have facilities for waste disposal... recall the Sabre the Tolwyns shared returning from the Landreich in Fleet Action. Presumably individual flight suits have such a capacity...
- The 'unused' Prophecy script turned out to be nothing but an elaborate piece of fan fiction... it had absolutely nothing to do with Prophecy.
- All of the bug ships, save possibly the Squid, are jump capable.
And finally, a hilarious quote.
you can't make a comparison of that nature. It's like comparing a week-old apple to a freshly picked one
So... you're saying that people can only compare things when they're exactly the same? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
(And you spelled Nephilim wrong).