Jacques Desmond

Virtue: True Believer in the Jardin Way
Vice: Obsession
Rank: Rear Admiral First Minister of the Jardin Republic
Allies: His Ever-Faithful Staff Officer Irina Polikarpov, the rest of the Desmond family, the ever-enabling Admiral Blanche's faction of the admiralty. (who is his mentor in the navy and probably getting something from Desmond's antics himself) Joachim Mornstein-Montfort and Colonel Prezan. Admiral Ackermann?
Enemies: That Goddamn Rifter, A Certain Space Pirate (Cavalry Officer? Is there even a difference bar the gilding?), the rest of the Desmond family, he sort of wishes that he could claim Le'Reinnes here but they don't really seem to care enough for that. Now they probably do. As do La'Vinnes, for that matter. Revanchists headed by Nicolete Deperidu. Admiral Ackermann?
Aspirations and Goals: To see the Republic become great once again and to unlock the secrets of the exodus from Milky Way prevent the secrets of the exodus from Milky Way from killing and/or enslaving the entire Large Magellanic Cloud.
Religion: A fascinating subject of study, certainly. Religion has always been a great keeper of history.
Economy: Social Capitalism. Proper organisation and freedom of enterprise is necessary to create wealth, but the economy serves the people. We shouldn't be comfortable with creating just another kind of nobility.
Politics: Jardin Republic is in need of a reform to once more serve the needs of its people, not oligarchs. It is apparently up to me to ensure it.
Class: The equality of all is a cornerstone of the Republic. We cannot afford to finally become a second Empire.

Skills:

Ancient History: Expert

Shady Plans: Expert

Command: Professional

Not Dying: Professional

Jardin Politics: Layman

Gourmet: Layman

Damage Control: Layman

Personal Combat: Terrible

Handling Love Matters: Terrible

Handling Rubik Cubes: Terrible

For-Now-Informal-Version: Jardinist commander with a battleship and a plan, now the First Minister after an unexpected series of events took place during the recent elections on Haven, which finally unseated Le'Reinnes from power after a century of rule and landed him straight in the middle of events leading up to the invasion of the Ur-Real. Kind of unhealthily obsessed with ancient history. Saw the elephant through a pair of red spectacles. A gourmet. Considered kind of an odd duck of the Jardinian admiralty, is probably far more on the ball than he appears to be though. Comes from a rich and powerful family that hasn't been doing so hot since the Guitler Plot; they're not on amazingly with Le'Reinnes and this filters down to him in unfortunate ways - and the improvement have been slow due to concern about accusations of nepotism in the current political environment. Might be a honest-to-goodness true believer in Jardinian ideals, despite pretensions to cynicism. Has a rather suspicious-looking moustache.

Personally led the rescue of a merchant convoy hit by commerce raiders - ended up wrecking his eyes and getting a limp; although technically fixed, he kept the cane he had to use for some time as a memento. Also rescued Irina Polikarpov in the process of getting said bodily damage, his pocket-sized current staff officer slash bodyguard, who has mastered a wide variety of unhealthy lifestyles and habits in the service of her saviour. (and who is a bit of an unhealthily obsessed killing machine, which is probably for the best given all the trouble Jacques keeps getting into, although he remains consistently oblivious to her kind of dangerous affection. God help us all if dueling ever becomes legal in Jardin, though) The raider captain escaped and remains at large, a score to be settled.

His greatest rival is a certain highly suspicious silver-haired Rifter captain - or assumed Rifter, at least - who consistently frustrates his operations around and within League's borders. (some of which were, admittedly, more related to Jacques pursuing historical shinies than anything else and not really all that officially approved) Jacques lost a space axe duel aboard a burning cruiser falling into a gas giant with him the last time they met, in part because Jacques is really no good at space axe duels. Which has not stopped him from sharpening his axe and already planning a rematch. (Desmonds can be really stubborn at the worst of times)

Rumours say that he had - perhaps still has? - an Imperial captain as a lover out there in the lawless space in his youth, far away from clear-cut frontlines, but the idea appears rather spurious and the sources are highly dubious; a cheap shot by someone trying to suck up to Le'Reinnes, surely. Which has not stopped Officer Polikarpov from sharpening her axe and already planning a beheading. The rumours were later proven true, a shady plot revealing Desmond's old romance with Ravshana al-Lasalle as part of its fallout, and although that has been over for many years, it still does not stop Officer Polikarpov from sharpening her axe and planning a beheading. Or perhaps asking for advice. One of these.

The less said about his idiot older brother, the better.

Attributes and Skills

Attributes

IQ: 7

Wits: 5

Charm: 2

Cunning: 4

Durability: 5

Physical Action: 2

Skills

Blackmail: 0

Horse Trading: 0

Chummy: 1

Bureaucracy: 3

Legal: 1

Speech: 4

Plotting: 3

Ship Command

Helmsmen: 1

Gunnery: 2

Leadership: 2

Squadron Command

Maneuver: 3

Formation: 3

Command: 3

Fleet Command

Maneuver: 3

Formation: 4

Command: 3

Allies and Crew

Captain Irina Polikarpov

The ever-faithful aide of Desmond. The Green (Swole) Chaika. The lone survivor of a merchant slash passenger ship whose convoy was attacked by a raider out in the frontier space; saved by Desmond, who almost died in the process. Attempts to establish exactly where she came from and if any of her family was still alive never came up with anything, any documentation going down with the ship itself and Irina herself being too young and traumatised to be of much help - although her great strength and short stature often has people assume she's some kind of high-G worlder. Eventually she was granted Jardin citizenship and entered the military under the patronage of the Desmond family, which was largely just glad that their younger son is spending his free time helping an orphan instead of generating scandals like the young rich (and his older brother) usually do.

Graduated from officer school with excellent results if not many contacts made, hyper-focusing on the path to her goal, and eventually ended up attached to Desmond's command after a period of time, including brief command of her own cruiser. Ended up more or less glued to the position, despite Desmond's attempts to encourage her to keep working on her own career, due to her rather unhealthy affection towards her savior. (Desmond's completely oblivious about that, though, much to her quiet despair)

Unhealthily obsessed killing machine; as short as she is deadly, with space axe or otherwise. Rumours say that the bear skin in her office (and occasionally serving as cape) comes from a time on Desmond's homeworld, where the poor exotic animal attacked the two on a camping trip and got killed by Irina unarmed. No weapon marks can be seen on the fur, but neither is particularly interested in explaining what actually happened back then.

Admiral Thomas Blanche

Desmond's mentor, friend and primary ally in the Jardin Admiralty. Once a terror of the starways and a war hero, with a collection of medals to prove that; widely considered as the admiral that blunted the most dangerous Imperial offensive in three hundred years and quite possibly saved the Republic of the time. However, that was a long time ago - by now, Blanche is closer to a living fossil at four centuries old, and his reputation and sheer distaste at the idea of being held down by gravity for good are the only things keeping him from a forced retirement, although he hasn't captained anything but a desk for close to a century. After the fallout of the Plot put Le'Reinnes in power and decades passed with one family in charge of the Republic, he became one of the key supporters of the Reform Faction.

Spends most of his time idling away in the office and playing zero-g golf in practice; a take-it-easy kind of officer when the lasers are not flying. Considered a has-been PR relic by many a hot-head, although he still has a certain amount of very real influence, which he applies rarely but decisively, even if in ways that sometimes appear erratic. Some people assume that the terrible old man of Jardin has some kind of centuries-spanning plan; some think he's just very bored. Either way, he is the reason why Desmond managed to get away with his relic-hunting operations on long-range anti-pirate patrols and general faffing about related to his historical hobby horse rather than just sticking strictly to his orders. What he thinks about the current situation in Jardin is, at the moment, uncertain.

Tends to be wearing a full-body suit when appearing in public these days, usually considered as some form of life support gear to keep the old age and war wounds in check. There's speculation that Blanche might be using restricted technology to keep himself alive and the suit is there to hide that, but so far there's little to support these conspiracy theories.

The Desmond Clan

Desmond's family. Originates on one of Haven's old colonies; an old, icy world that was nevertheless rich in resources. Made its fortunes in mining and later shipping, Desmond freighters eventually becoming a major presence in Republic space. (it is widely considered that Jacques's exceptional dislike of raiders and pirates comes from that root) The Le'Reinne rule has not been too kind on the family's fortunes, though; having ended up on the wrong side of the power struggles and relationships that emerged during their century-long rule, the Desmonds essentially got locked out of their previously-lucrative government contracts, awarded instead to Le'Reinne supporters. Even during their best times, they couldn't quite match up to the leviathans like the La'Vinnes, though.

Currently headed by the much-suffering Desmondmom, whose attempts to keep everything running smoothly are not helped by the antics of her five children. Right now, the company is set to be eventually inherited by Desmond's eldest sister, although his ambitious older brother is angling at the position. (to little effect, because he's just not very good at it) The conflicts between the siblings can get pretty legendary, although the tabloid rumour that Jacques' middle sister and Irina came to blows with space axes over one of them was eventually proven exaggerated. (it was pipes)

Mom's not exactly amazed at Jacques being apparently denser than battleship armour plate, either, but what can you do? At least he stopped breaking himself.