Christopher Blair, "Chris" to his friends, "Maverick" to his comrades, and "Heart of the Tiger" to the Kilrathi enemies of his he was born into interstellar war with and would ultimately become the man to vanquish. Son of Major Arnold Blair of the Terran Confederation Space Force and the Pilgrim woman Devi Soulsong, never getting a chance to know either of them before they died. Never married; never had any children. Born 2630.168... died 2681.052.

It has been over a century since his passing at the time of this writing, generations have come and gone, but still the name brings up the same controversy in anyone even remotely familiar with the Terran Confederation legend, be it from the action holofilms, documentaries, or history books.

Yes, legend. I would daresay Blair is writhing in his grave for still being attributed that label by historians. Without question, his participation in the First Kilrathi War need not even be mentioned as a factor for this label, and neither his involvement in the Nephilim conflict, though that in itself is controversial enough. For did it not seem that Chris Blair died in 2681 when the Nephilim’s gateway was destroyed in the Kilrah System? Three years later, stirred by the release of a disturbing story of an apparently assassinated news journalist that told the "truth" (the word used relatively) about Blair's fictional involvement in the "Gemini Alliance" in 2674 and 2675 during the Secession Wars, the galaxy would learn of Blair’s survival in the year 2684, a secret known only to him and those select few in the highest echelons of ConFleet he felt safe in trusting. There is little known about those three unaccounted years, but when the heroic figure in question did make his well-being known and reappeared in the eyes of the Terran Confederation he had once protected, tremors were felt.

I offer to you my own family's passed-down account of those final, dramatic events in Christopher Blair’s life, an account whose grim details have been omitted at the behest and wishes of my late, great-grandfather from whom this account originates, Lance R. Casey, until only recently—that, and perhaps it has even more so been in my own fear of how my great-grandfather's final actions in his regard may be remembered by history, these actions never written, spoken of, or otherwise documented in any sense until this manuscript sees publication and distribution.

I find within myself as I have grown old an irrepressible need to set the record straight, both for my family name, my great-grandfather, and the memory of Christopher Blair. My only wish is that you, the reader, view it kindly, and with an open mind.

Thank you.

Maj. General Robert H. Casey
Department of Military History,
Terran Confederation Fleet Academy