Michael Casey

Michael "Iceman" Casey is an excellent pilot and plays a couple of roles as wingman throughout the course of the Kilrathi War.

Biography[]

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Major Michael "Iceman" Casey served in the TCS Tiger's Claw adequately but with little inspiration. He was considered to be assigned to another area when tragedy had struck for Casey. In late 2649, his first wife and 15-month-old daughter were killed in a Kilrathi raid on Vega VII,^[1]^[2] and his other daughter, Julia Casey, was taken prisoner.

Angered by this news, Casey's kill ratio nearly doubled immediately and his kill score continued to rise. has racked up more confirmed kills while serving on the Tiger's Claw than any other pilot in the carrier's history.^[1] His dispassionate, emotionless demeanor earned him a new callsign, "Iceman."

Around 2652 he encountered Dakhath nar Sihkag near Planck's Star.^[3]^[4]

Vega Campaign[]

Iceman led the toast in the ceremony accepting Carl T. LaFong as a member of the crew.^[5]

In the McAuliffe system he flew with Angel.^[6] and in Gateway with Paladin and Knight. Together they fought off and defeated Kilrathi Ace Bhurak Starkiller.^[5]

In the game, Iceman flies the Epsilon Wing with Angel in McAullife/Gateway^[7]. During the assault against the Claw, he was assigned to fly with Dragon.^[8]

He later flew in the Kurasawa system.^[9]

He flew with Carl T. LaFong in the Rostov System in Raptors. At first they patroled the system for Kilrathi forces that invaded the system and engaged a Dorkir-class.^[10] Later, a Ralari-class entered the system, and the pilots were sent to destroy it.^[11] The pair went to investigate a lage presence jumping into the system and discovered it was a Fralthi-class escorted by Khajja nar Ja'targk.^[12]

Operation: Thor's Hammer[]

Again, with Prankster he flew Rapiers of the Black Lion with the Sigma Wing. With LaFong they engaged Lumbari-class tankers on their way to refuel from the destroyed Supply Depot, a Ralari-class with its Gratha escort, and a Fralthi-class with Jalthi escort which came to aid the depot.^[13] Later, the Claws target was low on fuel, they flew with the Mu Wing and patrolled the system, engaging transports, cruisers and destroyers.^[14] Soon after, the Claw was under attack by the stranded Kilrathi starfighters, and Iceman with LaFong as Delta Wing, defended their carrier.^[15]

Operation: Crusade[]

In the Firekka he was assigned to escort TCS Tsiolkovsky. Lawrence told him that the Sector has a lot less jump points compared to every known area. He and Prankster flew Hornets as Alpha Wing to escort the Diplomatic Corps Exeter-class TCS Perez de Cuellar to its jump point; during that mission they witnessed some of the rumored new Dralthi Mk. II. On their way back, they investigated traces of high energy and they saw it was a Ralari-class with its escort of Drakhai.^[16]

As nearly all pilots encountered Kilrathi warships, Iceman and Prankster were sent to locate the rest of the convoy; once more they flew Hornets as Kappa Wing and they met with 3 Fralthi-class with their escorts.^[17]

Despite those hard days, good news was to come to Iceman. Confederation High Command sent him a vidlink message that TCS Jerusalem had intercepted a Kilrathi slave ship, and that his daughter, Julia, was among those on the ship. He looked forward to see her again in the Vega Sector.^[18]

During a game of a seven-card stud with Hunter, Spirit and Puma from the TCS Austin, Hunter won all of their money. He refused to play more as he was flying patrol at 6:00 .^[19]

A new entry was detected in the system and pilots were scrabled to patrol the jump points. Iceman was paired with Doom of the Austin.^[20]

As Kilrathi presence increased in the system, patrols were more frequent and intense. He flew with Spirit as Delta Wing, the wide patrol beyond the jump points. When the Confed forces planned to withdrew and assist the Firekkans to evacuate their planet, he flew with Knight as Alpha Wing.^[21]

The Claw returned to Confed space and Iceman was assigned for jump arrival patrol with Hunter, who was missing for about a day; Halcyon was convinced he just took a leave by himself and would arrive at the right moment. Indeed, Iceman was in the Flight Deck and he saw Hunter coming in full speed with a stolen Dralthi, stopping with the reverse-brakes; he sardonically commended his landing, which crippled his fighter. He began to run toward their Rapiers, telling Hunter that Maniac was back on the Flight Roster.^[22]

Shortly after Firekka Iceman met a waitress named Kylie Sarah Richards.

In 2656, Casey saw the destruction of the Tiger's Claw, along with Jeannette Devereaux, his orders were to "Form a convoy pattern and let's head for the Austin. The coordinates are already in our nav computers. Keep radio silence, and watch your six. Iceman out."^[23]

A dialogue in Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi suggests that he died along with the rest of the crew onboard the Tiger's Claw when it was destroyed in the Enigma Sector.^[24] This dialogue appears in a non-canon scenario.

A few months later he and Kylie married and had a son, Lance. Life was looking good for Iceman for a bit until tragedy struck.Six weeks after his second marriage, Michael Casey was killed in action on a deep space patrol in the B'shriss system. Christopher Blair brought back his life-pod, but the official report of his death omitted the fact that he was found in pieces.^[25] The loss of Iceman saddened his fellow pilots^[26]

Jacob "Hawk" Manley, a close friend of Iceman's since his assignment on the Tiger's Claw, explained that Iceman's body was found the way it was because the Kilrathi took in his life-pod, killed him in that fashion, and afterwards, put his remains back in the pod and left it adrift for Confederation pilots to find. This part of the report was omitted to prevent traumatizing Iceman's family even more.^[27]

Character[]

Iceman and hunter — Iceman, cleaning his gun, with Hunter.

Iceman is known for his calmness under fire, perfect flying, and deadly aim. He had the reputation to talk rarely, and even in the cockpit, he whispers terse little statements.^[1] Ruthless and deadly, pilots said that he has freon for blood, thence his name.^[6]^[28] Maniac thought he lives for the killing, and considered him scary.^[29]^[30]

Iceman was fond of fast ships that take skill, he compared the slow but durable Scimitar to a Centaurian mud pig.^[6] Still, he'd like to meet a Kilrathi face-to-face and get his hands on him.^[2]

When flying in asteroid field, and especially when flying Hornets or Rapiers, he lured the enemy behind his tail running straight towards a large asteroid; rolling out at the last moment, the enemy often crushed on the rock.^[31]

In the bar of the Claw he could be seen cleaning up an antique pistol.^[32]

Iceman had achieved 367 Kilrathi kills during his nine-year career in the Terran Confederation. Seven of those were spent on the Claw. He was one of the most decorated pilots of the Confederation and even had a flight maneuver named after him.

Behind the scenes[]

When Iceman dies in WC1, this speech is heard during his funeral:

"Major Michael Casey was easily one of our most brilliant pilots. Though he rarely opened his heart to his fellow officers I feel sure that he would have wanted to die as he did... in combat with the Kilrathi, at the controls of a starfighter."

― Peter Halcyon

"So long, Iceman. I'll see that the Kilrathi pay for what they've done."

― Bluehair

In Operation: Thor's Hammer this becomes:

"Iceman, Major Michael Casey, was one of the best to ever fly a starfighter. His taciturn approach to his duties was fueled by a drive to win whatever the odds. He died as he lived fighting against the enemy to preserve the lives of his fellows."

― Peter Halcyon

"Goodbye, Iceman. I'll nail the bastard that got you."