One of three major memoirs and autobiographies of the Kilrathi Wars. It was ritten by Todd Marshall. At least one critic thinks its better than the memoires written by Jason Armstrong and Carl T. LaFong. In all unlikelihood, Christopher Blair's own memoirs giving specific details of his life at the time on the Tiger's Claw, and elsewhere will never be released.
Description[]
Live big or go home! From his humble beginnings as the hero of the Vega Campaign to his death defying final raid on Kilrathi itself, Me: The Life and Battles of “Maniac” Marshall follows the exploits of the Terran Confederation’s greatest living legend!
Touching, important and irreverent—you’ll laugh along with his friends on the Tiger’s Claw, cry at the death of his beloved Rosie and thrill to the impossible flying escapades of the Wild Eagles!
Available in hard copy and e-file editions From Enterprise Press 50c / M8,000
Chapter IX: Back in the Saddle[]
“Autopilot, had to be autopilot. I’ve heard this story fifty different ways, and there’s no way it was intentional..."-Rear Admiral Jason “Bear” Bondarevsky, FRLN (Ret.)
In the summer of ‘58 I finally got the big news I had been waiting for. After two years of flying the hottest experimental jobs in the universe I was finally going to get another crack at the furballs. In short order I was part of the 998th FW, flying Arrow lighters as part of Ralph’s Raiders squadron. We shipped out aboard the TCS Camden as an essential part of Operation Lamplight, the spearhead of Confed’s big Deneb Sector push. The mood was all around good. Our task force was the largest I’d ever seen: two carrier air groups and two cruiser squadrons escorting almost one hundred Army troopships. We’d learned our lesson after K’Tithrak Mang. This time we were going straight in, guns blazing alongside a truly awesome occupation force. Our job was to cover an amphibious assault on T’Rel Meh, a Kilrathi border planet that would be the lynchpin of the entire campaign. Capturing and fortifying the planet would give Confed the ability to push deeper and deeper into cat territory. The minute we crossed the border, the careful planning fell apart. Long range recon revealed a huge concentration of Kilrathi troopships moving across the system. Kilrathi shock troops could cross the border and beat up our colonies, or even worse they could double back around and nail our entire invasion force. General Sturdivan made the call, we had to nail the bastards. We put every Sabre and Broadsword we had into space, alongside all three of the escort cruisers. Even those were long odds, since that many freighters don’t go anywhere without a destroyer escort. I was the squadron XO at the time and I think Ralph really looked up to me. He’d gotten to where he was flying backwater patrols, while I’d done hard fighting everywhere from Vega to Terra itself. On the day in question he took Alpha Flight to help cover the massed strike and left me command of the rest of the squadron, with orders to run standard patrols. I opted to fly CAP, covering the troopships and our carriers at close range. Three hours in we got a laser lock message from the attack fleet: kitty defenses were minimal, it was a turkey shoot. The expected escorts had never appeared and our heavy cruisers were tearing it up. I banked around the Camden to get a look at our own armada... and suddenly, there they were: a pair of Ralatha battleships bearing straight down on our fleet. These things were killers and the only thing that could scratch their paint was a bomber. All our bombers were three hours away. I’ll admit it now: for a split second I panicked. I honestly believed I was going to watch these cat boxes slaughter a hundred thousand Terran soldiers right then and there — plus two precious fleet carriers for good measure. The huge warships loomed overhead, giant rounded specters bearing down on their defenseless prey. Every second got them closer to unleashing a volley of antimatter weapons. I looked at my VDU, confirming what I already know: no torpedoes, no plasma weapons, nothing but a pair of lasers. I realized then and there that my only hope was to trick the two ships into colliding..
Read this and a hundred other exciting adventures IN Me: The Life and Battles of “Maniac ” Marshall
Reviews[]
Wow. Just wow.” —Major General Troy Carter, TCSF (Ret.) “The sheer exhilaration with which Marshall tells his war stories gives his book a leg up on the likes of Armstrong and LaFong.” —Michael Gallagher “Given the unlikelihood of seeing [Blair’s] memoirs, Me: The Life and Battles of ‘Maniac’ Marshall offers the clearest possible picture of the missions that defeated the Kilrathi.” —Dr. Silas Torg, U. of Central Florida