Fandom Lore: The Mythical 7th CD

Wing Commander IV shipped on an unprecedented six CD-ROMs... but there was a point in development where it seemed like it might take seven! To counter this possibility, the American CD case, a custom design, was made to include seven disc sleeves. As a result, shortly after the game was released the online community was full of players asking... am I missing a CD? On April 18, 1996, an alt.games.wing-commander user named Craig Lambert posted a reply to one of these questions with a tongue-in-cheek story about an incredible seventh disc that let you stay with the Confederation (joking about another frequent complaint about the game from online posters). We thought it would be good to archive the original post for posterity; it wouldn't do to let such a long-running joke slip into oblivion! (Though for future readers, we will note one more time that none of this was ever real; it all sprung from Mr. Lambert's fertile imagination.)

What happens, you ask, if I don't WANT to defect from Confed? The apocryphal answer is below, in reality as virtually true as can be imagined. The legendary "7th CD" carried out this path: perhaps someone somewhere lucky enough to have this rare disk can upload it to the net for your retrieval: I saw it once on talk.bermuda.triangle, but my connection went down after I'd gotten only 457 meg of the file.

Of course you must hunt down Eisen and the Intrepid. Having escaped you in Silenos, the Lexington follows the Intrepid through the jumppoint into Orestes. You must fight through Hawk and Panther, each of whom challenges you, the "Heart of the Tiger" over the comm, then as you approach the Intrepid Maniac switches sides again, helping you and Seether destroy the Intrepid as Eisen broadcasts desperate pleas for assistance. Back on the Lexington, Paulsen congratulates you with all his special charm, and remarks it looks like you'll soon have the chance to finish with an old foe. Seether, meanwhile, gives Maniac a thumping, coldly mocking the cringing double-turncoat for his cowardice. He tells Paulsen not to punish Maniac for his initial defection: "He'll be more useful out there as a target for the Border Worlds scum to waste their shots on" Afterwards a chastened, battered and bleeding Maniac tells you that as soon as he'd landed on the Intrepid with Eisen he realized he'd made a huge mistake. "The captain was dead, most of the crew was breathing vacuum, the ship was a total wreck. No way the Maniac wasn't gonna bail that scrap yard first chance!"

Your next mission brief is to fly against the Kilrathi base in Pasqual: this time you get to hear Melek bitterly denouncing you for your treachery and inconstancy as you toast him and his furry comrades inside their exploding base, which was defended by a mix of Kilrathi Dralthi and BW fighters. Admiral Tolwyn comes aboard the Lexington, bringing you reinforcements in the form of the new Dragon fighters, and he praises you for your destruction of Eisen and Melek and urges you to work closely with Seether, saying 'unimaginable' rewards are available for loyal service. Its a bit unclear if he means service to Confed, or to him personally. He cuts short your qualms about flying in unmarked fighters (the Dragons): clearly you have blown it once again with the prickly Admiral, who tells you to "wise up, Colonel, you only get so many chances to play for the winning team"

Next you fly in the Telamon system, defending the jumppoints from incoming BW forces as planet FT-957 is dusted with the Gen-Select weapon. From now on, all your missions will include an offer from BW forces for you to defect, doing so (after killing Seether & any other wingmen) will go to the losing endgame described below.

You land amidst a scene of chaos and carnage, burning and bodies and wrecked equipment. A harried woman identifying herself as Lt. Sosa greets you. "We could have used your help, Colonel...when it would have made a difference"

"The things I've seen..." you reply, "I have to stop those bastards! They don't care who they kill!"

"It's too late," Sosa replies, "We just sent out our surrender. There's no-one left to fight for."

There is a brief trial scene. You are shown nobly defending the values of freedom and the strength of the human spirit from the stand, vowing to "fight on until simple decency and the true honor of the warrior prevail." The final scene shows your corpse, entangled in barbed wire, dusty swirls of wind tugging at your hair as bored guards are heard discussing your fate, only their jackboots and the muzzles of their rifles visible. "Another worthless mutt trying to break out...saves us the trouble of feeding his useless mouth." "A flyer from the looks of those clothes." "Die in the sky, die in the dirt," the first guard replies, "the weak have to be taught their place sooner or later."

However, its still possible to win on this path. Tolwyn arrives with the Vesuvius, announcing that the main BW fleet has been run to ground, and you will lead the assault on Vice-Admiral Wilford's "pathetic" force of criminal insurgents. Its clear though that the Admiral favors Seether over you, and you understand that Seether's job is to see that you carry out Tolwyn's orders to the letter. First you must open a jumppoint, destroying 3 cap ships and some 24 fighters in 6 waves. The next mission sees you through into Circe for the climactic battle, destroying the assembled BW cruisers and carriers: you fly with a loadout including two flashpaks. Afterwards, Seether orders you to destroy two fleeing transports, one of which has Sosa pleading for mercy over the comm, the other transport has Pliers cursing and reviling you. "Heart of the Tiger," he sneers, "at least the damn Pussys bothered to eat what they killed" Maniac goes crazy and begins firing wildly at all around him, shouting incoherently about murderers, and Seether quickly flames his ship, then deliberately blasts Maniac's escape pod, laughing and telling you he'll do the same to you if you don't follow his orders. Its possible to fight Seether at this point, and even kill him, but endless waves of fighters launch from the Vesuvius until you die, or eject, in which case you get an abbreviated version of the losing scenes. Should you go ahead and destroy the refugee transports, however, you go to this path's winning ending.

A guard is reporting to you, "Commandant Blair, Re-education Camp 34 detainee Transport reporting as ordered, sir. 200 prisoners died in transit, 75 prisoners are too sick to work and require "special" treatment." "Acknowledged" you reply, signing off on a proffered form. You watch the two files of dejected, slumping prisoners in torn and filthy clothing slowly shuffle through the gates of your camp. You see some faces...is that Rollins? Could that woman with the hacking cough be Rachel? Fadeout.

Oh well. At least it beats blowing up planets-full of sentient beings.

Copyright 1996, Craig A. Lambert
All Rights reserved, revered and redundant