Wing Commander IV: Silenos System (Confederation)

Paulsen: I am proud to be commanding you men and I appreciate your valiant attempt at apprehending these criminals, and I assure you that we will prevail. Colonel, you have set aside your personal loyalties for a higher duty: your duty to Confed. And your efforts will not be wasted.

Seether: Eisen will pay for this.

Catscratch: It just gets worse. I know I had my doubts back in Masa, but… defecting to the enemy? I don’t understand it, sir. Maniac was showin’ me the ropes. Captain Eisen? I looked up to him. Card player Vagabond? What got into them?

Maverick: I don’t know.

Catscratch: Well, you’ve known them a long time, sir.

Maverick: I said, “I don’t know”.

Catscratch: Well, should we have gone with them?

Maverick: Look, confusion is part of being a rookie, but don’t lose sight of one very important fact: mankind owes its freedom – its very survival – to the Confederation. If we don’t stick together, we fall apart.

Catscratch: Sooner or later, people will stop calling me rookie. I’ll be one of the vets. I always thought it’d get easier then. But it just gets harder, huh?

Maverick: As soon as you know that in your gut – and accept it – that’s when you stop being a rookie.

Paulsen: These are difficult times, Colonel. Nothing gets my juices flowing more than the act of a traitor. Captain Eisen clearly arranged for his rendezvous with that Border Worlds ship. They’re playing a pretty good game of cat-and-mouse right now, but sooner or later we’re going to find them.

Naismith: Captain Paulsen again expresses his admiration for your prowess, Colonel. You’re cleared to land. (Success)

Paulsen: Ah! Colonel. Good news: during the last mission, another squadron of ours dispatched one of those defectors.

Maverick: Which one?

Paulsen: One of the pilots. Why don’t you join me? I like hearing what the men have to say. You know, to a captain, isolation is a constant enemy. You have your wingmen and the brotherhood of your fellow pilots, but a captain… I have no doubt Eisen let himself get too isolated. Perhaps it contributed to his treacherous actions.

Maverick: His actions remain a mystery to me, sir.

Paulsen: Oh, a confounding mystery, Colonel, why a man like him, with such a distinguished career, would throw it all away for a horde of… sub-humans.

Maverick: Sir?

Paulsen: The Border Worlders? Barbarians, most of them. They offer sanctuary to the Kilrathi, for goodness’ sake. But, when you think about them: ex-cons, privateers, most of them not from any kind of… ‘pure’ stock, you know.

Maverick: With cattle you worry about stock. Not with people, as far as I know.

Paulsen: It’s just that we’ve gone soft since the war, you know what I’m talking about. But these new men that we’ve brought in, like Seether.

Maverick: Is that the pilot in the briefing room?

Paulsen: Yes! They’re a… new breed. Should we embark on a war of galactic scale again, our best hope will be men like him: their response swift and merciless, no quarter to the enemy.

Maverick: I heard no mention of honour, Captain.

Paulsen: An oversight. Honour, of course.

Maverick: You’d think this was a star port with all these comings and goings.

Catscratch: Have you ever flown with any of these men before, sir? Do you know their records?

Maverick: They’re as new to me as they are to you.

Catscratch: None of them are from the Border Worlds, I can tell you that.

Maverick: That doesn’t surprise me.

Catscratch: That one who met us on the flight deck, Seether?

Maverick: What about him?

Catscratch: He’s taken over Eisen’s cabin.

Maverick: Takes a lot of nerve.

Catscratch: I suppose he thinks he’s better than the rest of us.

Maverick: I wanna see what he thinks.

Maverick: Someone was bound to.

Seether: Enter. Colonel.

Maverick: Doing a little spying of your own?

Seether: Captain Eisen, guilty of so many things, was guilty of data theft as well. My efforts at damage control are feeble, I assure you. It’s difficult to ascertain the amount of damage his misguided deeds may have caused.

Maverick: However misguided he may have been, I’m sure Captain Eisen had reasons for his actions.

Seether: Eisen was weak. In the long run, the Confederation is much better off without him.

Maverick: I doubt that. You know… we’ve seen each other before. You remember?

Seether: Of course, Colonel.

Maverick: I can’t say I was particularly impressed with your behaviour.

Seether: Ah, that planet in Nephele? Riff-raff. Being on the edge of the Border Worlds, I had to deal with the problem as they understood. That one? I should have finished him off.

Maverick: And who are you to make that call?

Seether: Be honest, Colonel. We make that call all the time. Every time we climb in the cockpit. Every creature in the galaxy is constantly being weighed and measured in one or another’s eyes. The strong, the successful, find themselves always worthy. But, we get tested every day till we die. All of us. <cackles>

Paulsen: Ah, Colonel. We think we have an approximate fix on that Border Worlds ship we’ve been chasing.

Paulsen: It looks like they’re trying to escape the system through this nebula. The assignment for you and your wingmen remains the same: this ship, and any fighter attached to it, is to be targeted. Dismissed.

Seether: One other thing, Colonel. I’d like to clock some flying time. I’ll be one of those on your wing.

Seether: Oh, you better speak up. This is your last chance.

Pilot: Look, I don’t know anything. Really.

Seether: I wanna know the position of the Intrepid.

Pilot: Position? I don’t deal with co-ordinates, man. I follow beacons. I don’t know anything about co-ordinates. I don’t know anything. What are you…

Seether: You’re a pathetic liar!

Maverick: You bastard!

Seether: You have a complaint, Colonel?

Maverick: That man was a prisoner of war! Not target practice! I haven’t seen anything like that since…

Seether: <cackles> Since the Kilrathi? In case you haven’t noticed, Colonel, we’re fighting a war. The politicians may not have signed all the papers yet, but out there it’s my side and their side. The Kilrathi didn’t let cheap sentimentality get in the way of the war they fought. Maybe we should learn something from them. I may have over-reacted, just a little bit. But you can’t unring the bell.

Maverick: Captain Paulsen will hear about this.

Seether: I wouldn’t bother, Colonel. Besides, who do you think runs this ship? Get him out of my sight.

Paulsen: The Border Worlds ship thinks it’s found a way out of this system, but we’re way ahead of them. They’re coming our way, Colonel, so I’m swinging the Lexington around to block the jump point. We’re all tired of chasing this ship, finish them off. You will not return until this is achieved. Dismissed.

Maverick: Oh… one other thing, Captain. Will Seether be going up on this one?

Paulsen: No. I need him here to help me co-ordinate our efforts.

Eisen: Colonel, if you can hear me, there is a great deal of information I’ve uncovered. I want to extend to you an invitation to join the Border Worlds Union. I know such a move will be the most difficult thing you have ever had to do. But I believe the Confederation we fought for is not the Confederation we now have. You and I need to be on the same side, my friend. I don’t think you’ll regret it…

Maverick: Confed’s out of control. I accept your invitation.

Catscratch: I’m going with you, Colonel.

Eisen: Received your transmission, Colonel, and you don’t know how happy I am. But we’ve got to get out of this system, and the Lexington herself intends to block us. If she gets to the jump point before we do, it’s all over for us. You know what you have to do.

Eisen: You’re a sight for sore eyes, Colonel – you’ve got big time clearance. Catscratch, too.

Paulsen: What a disaster!

Seether: Your first mistake was in not killing him right away.

Paulsen: Who? Eisen, or the Colonel?

Seether: Take your pick.

Paulsen: What’s going to happen now?

Seether: That’s a good question, Captain. First of all, you’re gonna get reassigned. Then, I’m going to continue my plans – with the added pleasure of killing “The Heart of the Tiger”. <cackles> What are you looking at, soldier? Just fly the vehicle.

Panther: Welcome to the Union of Border Worlds, Colonel Blair.

Maverick: It’s great to finally be here.

Hawk: This is Colonel Farnsworth. I’m Colonel Jacob Manley.

Maverick: I know those names. Catscratch, I want you to meet Hawk and Panther. These two kicked a lot of Kilrathi butt for Confed during the War.

Hawk: Yeah, now Confed’s kickin’ our butts.

Maverick: Well, maybe we can help out on that score.

Hawk: Great. I’ll show you your quarters.

Paulsen: Well, Colonel, you’re about to find out how Confed deals with traitors. We didn’t have many in the war with the Kilrathi. Take him away.

Miles: The famous hero of the Kilrathi War, also known as “The Heart of the Tiger”, was convicted of treason against the Confederation. No appeal will be allowed.

Soldier: Blindfold?

Maverick: No.

Soldier: Ready. Aim. Fire!

Maverick: Can’t do it, sir. You’ve dug your own grave.