Black Lance (Wing Commander)

The Black Lance was a rogue special operations force featured in the video game Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom.

The Black Lance grew out of the Terran Confederation's genetic engineering program that the military had developed towards the end of the war. This program genetically enhanced humans in the hopes of developing better fighters against the Kilrathi. The program was cancelled by Confed, but had continued in secret under Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn. Tolwyn commanded the forces with the enhanced soldier Seether becoming the second in command to him.

After humanity won the war against the Kilrathi Tolwyn came to the conclusion that humanity had been at its zenith fighting them, but since then had become lost and confused. Tolwyn decided that the only way for humans to survive and evolve was to instigate new conflicts, and chose the Union of Border Worlds as his target.

Tolwyn was able to use his resources and connections within Confed to supply the Black Lance forces with a number of weapons, including unmarked advanced starfighters and flash packs.

Using the Black Lance forces Tolwyn attacked a number of Confed and Border Worlds targets. These resulted in the deaths of many civilians on both sides, and led to the Confederation Senate debating whether to engage in war with the Border Worlds.

Recalled to active service, Colonel Christopher Blair was sent to ostensibly get to the truth of the attacks, but in reality Tolwyn hoped to bring him into the conspiracy or eliminate Blair as a potential threat. Blair and his friend Captain William Eisen defected to the Border Worlds after Eisen discovered proof that someone in Confed was provoking conflict between the two nations.

Meanwhile the Black Lance was able to force Dr. Tuesday Brody - an expert in biology - to help them design the gen select bioweapon. They deployed the weapon on Telamon. Using nanobots the bioweapon killed anyone who's genetic profile did not match the preselected profile Tolwyn and the Black Lance provided, killing over 90% of the colony. The survivors were evacuated and the system was abandoned.

Blair was able to infiltrate the Black Lance starbase in the Axius system. Making his way to the assembly hall he saw Seether congratulating the troops for their successful deployment of the gen select weapon on Telamon, and was shocked to see Admiral Tolwyn congragulating coming forward to address his forces. Spotted by Seether Blair had to high tail it out of the assembly. Encountering Doctor Brody, the two made their way back to Blair's fighter. Brody was shot by the Black Lance forces. Before dying she gave Blair a memory card with crucial data on it concerning the gen select weapon and the flash pack.

Heading back to Earth Blair defeated Seether in ship to ship combat. Arriving on Earth Blair barged in to the hearing where Tolwyn had just been promoted to Space Marshal and was delivering his report to the Confed Senate. Blair was able to get Tolwyn to admit to the crimes he had committed. When Tolwyn went on a rant about how humanity needed conflict to evolve, Senate President Taggart stopped him and told the Senate it was time to vote. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected war with the Border Worlds.

Following the vote Admiral Tolwyn was placed on trial for his crimes. A number of people testified against him - including a Black Lance officer who found what they were doing to be morally objectionable. Tolwyn was found guilty of crimes against humanity and was set to be executed, but committed suicide before the Confederation could put him to death. The Black Lance was disbanded, however it was believed there may have been Black Lance members operating in secret still.