The Epee is questionable. There's something that looks sort of like an Epee on Wing Commander Academy... but the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide gives a later date (2661) for them.
There's actually already a Dragon! A Tiger's Claw pilot and one of the big heroes of the Vega Campaign... one of the top Rapier II aces (mentioned in the Academy manual and Star*Soldier, and also in dialogue in Wing Commander I.)
Wing Commander II starts in 2665 and ends in 2667. Both Special Operations stories take place immediately afterwards in 2667.
The Wing Commander I & II guide mentions that over 80% of Academy classes wash out of flight school and end up flying transports instead.
... but we've also seen transport pilots who go on to fighter training! Like the Firekkan pilot in Secret Missions 2.
The name is actually from the Wing Commander I & II guide as well. The Eagle's Talon stands in for the Tiger's Claw in the narrative for the Hubble's Star and Hell's Kitchen serieses and then goes on to support the 'Claw at Venice.
... actually, you should look up those chapters; we meet several Eagle's Talon pilots.
A Bengal-class has the facilities to land a corvette-sized ship (per the Confederation Handbook)... but they're nominally self-sufficient. The one we see in End Run has been on station for something like a year. I believe there's an escorting Venture in some of the Super Wing Commander cutscenes...
There's a dedicated hospital ship on Wing Commander Academy, the TCS Pleiku. There's also a hospital ship among the sketches produced for Privateer Online... (not sure if this has been recovered yet or not, I just remember it was Boomer's favorite ship design.)
I could have a more extended conversation about this later, but a few things have stuck with me:
- Larger bomber raids, especially where you fly escort. I have always wanted to fly the Wing Commander equivalent of a Mustang escorting B-17s. Protecting large formations of Broadswords as they head in to hit a planetary target, maybe.
- Characters who AREN'T elite naval academy graduates; lets meet someone who went through ROTC or someone who was drafted!
Did you miss the other two weird Paradigm threads you started where everyone pointed out that it's a destroyer?
This is early for the Paradigm, though; Origin FX has it as an advanced new warship in 2663.
Not to mention Super Wing Commander!
It's made up
There are very few 'canon' hull numbers (the Tiger's Claw is 7 and that's the only Bengal we know.)