Vitruvious Galen
Baron Vitruvious Galen (a.k.a. Colonel Salt)
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
He is very lean due to his preference for cardio and endurance training over more flashy body building. Strength is useless without the agility to employ it or the stamina to sustain it.
Body Features
Despite a long career in the Star Marines and a veteran of numerous wars, he doesn't have a single scar on his body.
Facial Features
He wears neatly trimmed facial hair, complementing his distinguished and gaunt features.
Apparel & Accessories
He only owns military apparel from his service in the Star Marines. His Combat Armor being his clear favorite. He also retains his military dress uniform, covert operations uniform, and all weather stealth gear.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Vitruvious studied Archeology, Biology, Robotics, and Cybernetics in university. Despite showing great aptitude he served a full career in the Star Marines, achieving the rank of Colonel and retiring with a pension.
However, during a brief absence from the public eye, he returned to researching science. Some argued at the expense of his duties in his royal appointment as a baron. He dismisses these claims as his holdings remain efficient and self sustaining.
He now travels in service of his queries and in search of a good dust up, and occasionally with his vibrant and enthusiastic young bride Rachel Ducal of the Ducal Imperial Family.
Intellectual Characteristics
Colonel Galen is a slow contemplative conversationalist. Often preferring to let others exhaust their thoughts without hinderance. In his experience people are keen to share with liberty when they believe themselves to be in safe company. He believes challenging a point or redirecting conversation needlessly denies potential insight.
In a debate, it is his philosophy that fools make their opponents defensive.
"Let them explain themselves and ask for clarifications. No philosophy holds under scrutiny, and the hypocrisies will make themselves apparent. If you give a man a length of rope, he'll hang himself of his own accord and save you the trouble."
When he does assert himself in conversation, he strikes with potent precision and terrifying momentum. - even if his words are deliberate and measured.
Morality & Philosophy
If you would falter to speak your mind to a man with a weapon, then your lack of conviction belays how little your words or integrity matter to you.
A man that keeps his hands clean, sending other to do his dirty work, degrades his soul more than the mad butcher.
Always know your target and what's behind it. Never draw on anything you don't intend to destroy. A threat cannot be withdrawn nor ignored.
Social
Hobbies & Pets
His hobby is acquiring new hobbies. He's willing to sink a small fortune into anything once.
Speech
He speaks in a regal, dignified, but boisterous manner.
Wealth & Financial state
By all rights, he should be wealthy, but he can't help but enjoy the finer things in life. In addition, his hobbies are torturously expensive.
An old soldier looking for a war. Accommodations and accolades hounded him his entire life, pulling him further from the battlefield. Even when he retired, a barony was forced upon him and he was married into the imperial line.
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Honorary & Occupational Titles
Colonel Vitruvious Galen Baron of the 3rd Imperium of Man
Age
50
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Amber
Hair
Black
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale
Height
6'4"
Weight
210 Lbs
Mistaken Identities
Daedalus
An Excess of Chocolate
My first proper job for the Shadow of the Rose, regrettably, was rescuing the evidentially unsecure assets I'd just acquired. Both Ms. Kawavie and Ms. Nikola were captured by brigands associated with Lunk Thunderchin that had tailed us to Drinax. However, they were unable to make a clean escape with their hostages as they were blasted out of the sky in orbit over the world Twix.
I haven't been able to make sense of the events that lead to the fire fight, but there seems to have been evidence of a great number of crash landings on this world. Perhaps some other cell of Pirates has claimed this patch of space for their own? I tasked Ferrus Blackclaw with hauling the bodies floating in the void back to our ship. Fortunately the two women where not among the dead, and a few had managed to survive being jettisoned in their vac-suits.
The surface of the world of Twix, was perplexing. As I mentioned before, there was an abundance of other crashes which made it difficult to determine where to go. Twix is a low tech world with very little integration with the stellar community. The most confusing element of the world is that all life and fluid on the world seems to be made out of chocolate. The indigenous were accommodating and confirmed they'd recovered the women from the wreckage and brought them to a doctor. They agreed to lead us there in the morning, but would not risk travelling by night due to highly aggressive predators (Unbeknownst to me at the time, one of my crew had nearly been killed by one of these beasts attempting to "rescue" a bird that had been impacted and instantly killed by one of Oswald's reconnaissance drones).
Nothing is ever so simple. By morning, we learned that the doctor's ranch had been attacked by off-worlders. I enlisted the locals and flew over to the site. I quickly laid out a plan to my improvised force. I would infiltrate the ranch from the rear, and give the signal to initiate a full frontal assault. Admittedly, it wasn't my finest plan. While I was able to eliminate all of pirates inside their hastily constructed fortifications - a lone sniper on the roof outside my line of sight absolutely devastated my own force.
I've identified a significant vulnerability in my tactics. Ironically, I'm likely to struggle against opponents of diminished technological sophistication. I've come to rely very heavily on using the security systems of any compound I'm assaulting against my foes. These backwater pirates had no cameras for me to remotely view, no doors or security shutters for me to forcefully lock, and not com badges for me to triangulate off of. I was essentially blinded by having to rely only on my own senses. I need to make better use of my subordinates, as even though none of the pirates posed any threat to me, I would have nevertheless struggled to eliminate them fast enough to protect the hostages from harm.
Letter of Marque
I've seen my fair share of war, but I found myself humbled by the depth of destruction wrought by the Sindal Civil War. The Former capitol of Drinax is an irradiated ashen waste pockmarked by innumerable and overlapping craters. Only the great floating palace remains, but I would hardly say it is untouched. It's once resplendent halls and gardens have become chaotic markets and impromptu shanty towns. It seems absurd to me that these people would try to rebuild an empire from such destitution. The fringe world of Blue stands a better chance of rising to prominence in the sector, but stranger things have happened.
The current regent received us with what meager pomp and circumstance his decayed holdings could muster, and I'll admit - he'd likely not appear a pauper lord to most. However, I know my own kind when I see them. All the same, he wishes to funnel what little revenues remain to him in to this folly, and I'll happily deprive him of his disrespected credits. With the dubious authorization to raid granted by his Letter of Marque, I can establish my own holdings in the region and he'll have little to no recourse.
I have little interest in such things, but I must concern myself with the needs of my dear wife. She has long languished on my one world and deserves a proper estate that she may tour during her leisure. My initial research has turned up some promising subsectors I could acquire and cultivate into a garden for her purposes (Namely The Borderland, although the Dpres has peaked my interest. Acquiring the Sindal subsector itself would be most ideal, but too many interests in that region make it an untenable prospect).
For now, my base of operations will be the lowly world of Blue. The influential rolodex of contacts I've established there will certainly be of use in both the immediate and long-term. I will send for Rachel when I return to Blue. Knight Hefty would certainly be delighted to host my beloved whilst I secure better accomodations for her.
Hired
Having successfully extracted Ms Sycca Kawavi and the three conspirators in our custody - we had little left to do on Blue. I informed the forces of Sir Hefty to stand down, and removed the logic bomb from the shield dome's systems. I tasked Oswald and Uz-Kun with final preparations on the [ship name - formerly the Rising Shadow but Dennis Retconned it to something else] and Ferris Blackclaw with firewatch. The captain and I would interrogate the passengers and Mr. Outinhiener to assist me.
My tactic was very simple. I sat all three in the bridge and explained that they'd failed Lunk Thunderchin - and that he will be coming to kill them in short order. However, as I was a former Colonel in the Star Marines special forces and an Imperial Baron that possessed considerable resources, I could provide protection in exchange for cooperation. The two men protested, claiming that they were going to be rescued by their pirate patron and that if anyone would be killed - it would be me. I simply laughed and told them they didn't know Lunk nearly as well as they thought they did. My time in the service saw me cross paths with the corsair on more than one occasion, every lackey thought their rescue was imminent - but shortly after I'd delivered my charge to jail - invariably I'd receive a report of those same belligerents dying. Usually via Columbian Necktie.
So I made them a deal. I would attempt to interrogate each one exactly once. Should they refuse, I would have Mr. Outinhiener bring them to the lower deck and put them in a cryoberth. They would be brought to jail, and Thunderchin would torture and assassinate them. Or they could could take a gamble on me, and maybe they live maybe they don't. Again the two men protested, "How could anyone protect them Lunk Thunderchin". I reminded them that he already wanted me dead from all the times I'd tangled with him and disrupted his plans - yet here I stood. As for proof of my skills, I reminded them that within 2 hours of me learning of their existence - I'd uncovered and thwarted their conspiracy. Using my sword, I tapped on their manacles for dramatic effect.
After a deliberately long pause, I asked Captain Jankowitz first. He responded with shouts, swears, and spit. He screamed himself hoarse with promises of my demise. When his bluster petered out, I turned to Ronin and said, "Mr. Outinhiener, the prisoner has decided he'd like to be executed by Thunderchin in some backwater prison - please escort him to the cryoberths in the lower deck." I purposefully waited in silence for Ronin to return before asking the second man. He refused, but with significantly less bravado. He nervously asserted, half to me and half to himself, that he would be saved. I told him that I wished for his sake that he was right, but that my experience told me he was doomed to a very painful death. Again, he was escorted down below. The last prisoner, the one I'd identified as the weak link from the outset, had been properly traumatized by my matter-of-fact display by the time Ronin returned from the bowls of the ship.
Nikola, begged me to protect her from Lunk, but wanted to know how I'd do it before she'd agree. I explained that I had admin access to the computer systems in the Arcadis mining camp. I could remove her from the records and have her transferred to Bluehai still working for OCP but under the protection of the Shadow of the Rose Corporation. In exchange, she would act as a passive informant to provide me with useful intel and preferential treatment. She didn't know much, and I didn't expect her to. What I wanted from the beginning was a corporate spy inside OCP I had leverage on - and that was worth calling in a few favors.
The rest of the affair was rather mundane. I submitted my report to GeDeCo on the two prisoners, and we returned Ms Kawavi and the [Ship name] to them. We were officially hired by the Shadow of the Rose, having passed our orientation, and ordered to report to the Royal family of the former Sindal Empire on Drinex. Coincidentally, I was approached by Victoria - the young woman Ronin nearly shot at the beginning of the op. She'd independently wanted the same deal I'd given to Nikola, and wanted to get off Blue and to someplace more significant. That would be an easy arraignment, but in the meantime I asked her to stay on as head of security in Arcadis and approve Nikola's transfer to Bluehai.
The only other thing of note, though I'm hesitant to record this here. The computer of the [ship] is a sentient AI, and from the records in the ship's logs - Thunderchin had another ship named the USS Shenanigans also controlled by a sentient AI stolen from him. That he is collecting such rare and restricted technologies is disturbing. The fact that my employers seem to be aware of and actively countering this effort, speaks volumes of their capabilities. My interest is peaked, but this is likely the most dangerous task I've ever embarcked upon.
I couldn't be happier.
Unearned Luck
Things have only just calmed down, and I'm still fuming mad. I impressed as clearly as possible to my crew the need for subtlety in this operation. We'd planned out every movement out in exacting detail. Our forces would be divided into a distraction, a strike squad, and with myself as mobile support. My overlapping systems allow me to be all be invisible beyond 20 meters. My ability to monitor cameras in the camp and wander undetected allow my to scout a safe path between patrols and sensors to inject the strike squad into position. They would have either hacked into the door of Ms. Kawavi's hab, or if need be either myself or the strike squad could cut trough with engineering acetylene torches.
I was denied this. Immediately following the briefing, Ronin Outinhiener, snatched up an advanced combat rifle from the ship's locker and marched out of the airlock directly into the guard stationed right outside the door. I felt as though I were underwater, watching everything in slow motion. It felt like an out of body experience, like it was happening to someone else.
As luck would have it, the OCP guard (Victoria) wasn't part of the captain's conspiracy. The bloody fool nearly gunned down the poor woman, even as she pleaded to assist us. In one fell swoop, the entire operation collapsed. The irony is not lost on me that the ball of ice and rock is named Blue. The entire affair resolved an almost perfunctory administrative fashion. I needed to dispense with our cover, explain our mission, and let the chips land where they fell. We were paraded with an ever expanding entourage of OCP guards through checkpoint after checkpoint directly to Ms. Kawavi's hab. The only stimulation to be found was when the insurrectionists attempted an assault on the hab, but they were quickly dispatched and arrested by the Umbrella Corp site executive Clorox.
I have never felt so limp.
Compounding Impressions on Arcadis
There is a clear conspiracy at foot at the Arcadis mining camp. After penetrating the OCP servers, I intercepted comms transmissions between Captain Jankovics and two other subordinate officers, Stanislav Baca and Nikola Kralova. Their discussions where alarmed and concerning myself. My request for an audience with Juliet has rustled the hornet's nest, and they appear to be mobilizing to intercept us while maintaining a low profile. While the officers seem to be in league, evidently the whole of the unit is not aware or involved in this corruption. And I do mean corruption, as this cadre of rouges not only are allies of the notorious pirate and terrorist Lunk Thunderchin, they were meaning to transfer my target to him upon his his imminent arrive to this very mining camp inside 48 hours.
My crew will be separating to gather as much intel as possible and prep the CSS Rising Shadow for departure. I have hacked the subsystems of the camp further with my neural comm and embedded a logic bomb into the shield generator. If I do not transmit a sentinel code by night fall tomorrow - the shield will be expanded indefinitely beyond the emitter's safety limiters in order to trigger an overload and collapse the shield dome entirely. I have notified the knight's men who've taken up station on the outskirts of the camp to attack when given the signal, that the signal will be obvious, and that I will be entering radio silence. Captain Jankovics appears to be looking into a different hack on his network, perhaps Mr. Oswald Smith has gained some manner of penetration into different systems. We'll have to compare notes later, but open communication - even encrypted - is too risky at the moment.
...
My meeting with Captain Jankovics confirmed many of my suspicions. Through he attempted to keep his cards close to his chest, I've confirmed my target is in a low berth under his care and that at best only a dozen men men are part of his conspiracy. I played my part as a daft dilettante ham fistedly acting as a data broker, and my feigned incompetence lulled him into a false sense of security. By contrasting his answers to my seemingly inane questions to the comms logs and journal entries of the OCP security detail as I spoke with him. I should be forgiven for blowing my own horn, but I've done quite the commendable job I should say. I even managed to narrow down which block of habs the young lady is being held in, and these rubes are none the wiser.
I'm looking forward to a proper extraction op, this is a fine thing to exhilarate my old bones. Never again will I allow myself to be chained to a desk. I feel like I am for the first time, finally home. All that's left is to let site operator know to take shelter and plan the raid with my comrades.
Initial Impressions on Arcadis
My crew and I descended on the the Arcadis mining camp like locust, scattering to its four corners leaving no stone unturned. Uz Khoun, a Vagar Engineer and existing member of the Blue Rose Corporation, made for the CSS Rising Shadow immediately - which was smothered by ice on a disused landing pad. Rudolph and a former subordinate of mine from the Star Marines, Ronin Outihenter, when to the restaurant plaza for lunch and to gather information from the locals. Oswald Smith, the Vagar Ferrus Blackclaw, and myself made directly for the camp administrator's office - one Walter P Clorox.
We were received by Mr. Clorox's secretary Georgia Bell, and asked of our business. Both she and Clorox seemed humbled by my status as a Baron, given the unadorned and simple office they operated out of and genuine demeanor - their lack of pretensions could be exploited. I elected to be direct but brief, stating that I merely wished to present myself preempting a business lunch I'd scheduled with with a resident of the island camp Juliet, but that I would appreciate some assistance as I'd neglected in my haste to hammer out the details and get her contact details. I would be grateful to them if they could notify her of my arrival.
This was the first curve that was thrown. This Juliet was a prisoner of the island, and specifically one neither this Umbrella Corporation manager nor his secretary knew about. Her records seemed injected into the database quiet recently. Evidently Walter meets personally with each and every prisoner that enters his service, as well as every resident of the island. He was distressed and annoyed that standard procedure wasn't followed and resolved to have a word with the security/prison corporation, Omni-Consumer Products (OCP), he'd sub-contracted to oversee the labor and keep the peace.
The second curve that was thrown was a high tech nano-bug that Oswald Smith discovered in Mr. Clorox's office. I'm impressed with Oswald's comms proficiency, as my systems were unable to detect the bug. As Oswald disabled the device, I moved to channel and utilize the panic it's discovery caused. I elaborated that I would not discuss our direct employer, but that we were here on behalf of GeDeCo to recover their stolen property and to capture an assassin that had executed an executive of theirs. Further, I believed that this Juliet was an alias of this assassin, and that she had smuggled herself into these facilities on some clandestine purpose.
This had the desired effect. Walter P Clorox all but prostrated himself before us. He gave authorization to expand the shield dome past the CSS Rising Shadow and for us to claim it. He also offered to assist us however he could in apprehending Juliet. He directed me to speak with with the OCP Captain, Dominick Jankovics. At the close of our meeting, Oswald departed to assist Uz Khoun with the ship. Ferus and myself would confront Captain Jankovics. Out of an abundance of caution I have used my neural comm to hack into the systems of the prison. One can't be too careful.
A Healthy Head Start
I arrived roughly one week before the rendezvous with the crew I am to be XO of. Punctuality is important, especially in an investigation, and my preliminary reconnaissance has proved fruitful. In separate meetings with both the Knight of this world, Charles Hefty III, and the operator of the Black Market, Izar Guilka, I have gathered significant intelligence. I have confirmed that Ms. Sycca Kawavi did indeed travel to Blue aboard the stolen vessel the CSS Rising Shadow. I have confirmed that neither she nor the ship have left Blue. In fact, the ship is currently docked at an independent facility operated by the Umbrella Corporation.
Before leaving the Spaceport, a woman named Juliet listed an intelligence item related to GeDeCo on the stock exchange for KCr 300 (the colloquial term for this planet's black market). This Juliet is likely an alias of Ms. Kawavi. I scheduled a meeting to assess the information from Juliet, and have spent the remaining days awaiting the arrival of my crew at my penthouse at the Ritz Carlton.
When my crew did arrive, they immediately set to work on an investigation of their own. So much so, they neglected to contact me. I learned later it was due to them having been relayed an incorrect personnel file on myself. I observed them as they conducted their search, and they seemed to be asking the right questions. However, they failed to obtain all that I had. I appreciate their vigor, but it for now it seems this is not a task I can delegate. I invited them to dinner at the Ritz Carlton, sharing what I knew and my current plan of operation.
Mining guilds tend to be persnickety, temperamental, and fraternal. On their work sites, their word is law - regardless of whom they are speaking with. With regards to this particular camp, the corporation that contracted them is the governing body of this world, and the knight is merely a displaced figurehead. As much as I would like to smuggle in my Laser Pistol, it would be ill advised. I have instructed Lord Hefty to position his men in a perimeter around the work site, to be summon in the case of an emergency. I will go to the camp posing as a prospective buyer and my crew as simply a protective detail.
I know that the site is made of prefabricated hab modules, protected from the cold by an environmental shield dome. I know that the work is principally done by prisoners, and that attrition rates are high. Due to all the unknown factors this operation should be reconnaissance focused. Even if I had intention of buying, it would take several weeks to disentangle credits from CHOAM networks for a clandestine purchase. Meaning this Juliet likely feels fortified in her position - indicating direct collaboration with the mining guild. Either that or she is completely incompetent. Both options carry considerable danger.
Our shuttle leaves in the morning. It'll be a long flight and a longer day. I need to get what sleep I can.
Another Early Retirement
I've made the decision this morning to accept the job offer from this Order of the Blue Rose. Mercenary work seems a fitting retirement, far better than the managerial bore of the Barony forced upon me after my service. I am to rendezvous with a crew on the planet Blue; to find and extract one Sycca Kawavi. She is alleged to have murdered her husband, an executive of GeDeCo, and absconded with company property. I suspect very little effort was put into her plan, but I will know more when I arrive at her last known location.
My dear wife Rachel Ducal of the Ducal imperial line, the one bright spot following my resignation as Colonel in the Star Marines, wished to attend me on my "charming adventure". I love her and her enthusiasm, however my coffers are running very dry at the moment. As endearing and determined as she is, the mounting medical bills for cloned and cybernetic replacements are quite burdensome. In a social, artistic, or bureaucratic setting she is peerless - however her magnetic personality in a conflict seems to draw shot and sword with equal ease as she attracts a retinue in high society.
Despite her many injuries, often from lingering too long at the outset or making naïve choices after, she fascinated with battle. In that sense we are kindred spirits. I think had the circumstance of her birth had been different, we might have served together in the star marines. She has been less accident prone as of late. The off-hand comparison I had made between sight reading sheet music for an orchestral performance and improvising to hide mistakes seems to have resonated. At any rate, when I told her the average temperature of Blue she quickly lost all interest in accompanying me, just as I had hoped she would. I will send for her after assessing my employer.
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