Malcolm Hendricks

"Figures..."

-Malcolm Hendricks' last words, c.2083

Commander Malcolm John Hendricks (November 3, 2046 - c. 2083) was a primary character in the 'War' campaign. He served as Pilot, Bridge Officer and later Commander of the Air Group aboard the PMV Tombstone under the respective command of Admiral Brooks, Captain West and finally Captain Langford . After crash landing on the alien planet known as 'Tempus', Hendricks gave his life in order for the PMV Tombstone and her crew to make a successful escape.

Early Life
Malcolm Hendricks was born near Hastings, Nebraska. Since his birth, Malcolm was raised in the absence of both parents and grew up with his paternal grandparents in their secluded farmstead. In his childhood, Malcolm often became curious of his parents but was promptly disciplined by his grandfather Edward, any time he brought them up. Despite this discouragement, Malcolm remained a curious child throughout his youth, often falling into trouble throughout Hastings due to his 'curiosity'. One instance Malcolm often regrets to recall is the night he spent in a police cell after letting his curiousity get the better of him and getting caught breaking into an disused television factory.

Military Career
After exceeding throughout his school career, particularly in the sciences and social studies, Maclolm felt a great deal of oppurtunity lay in enlisting as a pilot officer in the United Canadian and American States Navy at the age of 18.

Throughout his pilot training, Malcolm showed great aptitude in all aspects of the program, excelling particularly in aeronautical theory and flight dynamics. Outside the classroom, Malcolm took to the air like a duck to water, earning him the nickname Mallard within his training squadron. After his 4 year training concluded, the newly promoted Lieutenant Hendricks was assigned to the USS Koontz of the Pacific.

As soon as newly qualified Hendricks entered the ranks of the UCAS Navy, he quickly learned military life was not what he had previously imagined. His assignment brought with it a life of rules, protocols, orders and suchlike; many of which Hendricks felt completely arbitrary. His name dubiously became associated with many disciplinary cases of the Navy's Correction Services, including one instance where Hendricks reportedly struck a Commodore after a disgreement regarding Malcolm's flying prowess. Malcolm's list of infractions grew to eventually include instances of wreckless piloting and the occasional case of disregarding the rules of engagement. Throughout these strings of offences, Malcolm suffered only minor disciplinary actions allegedly due to his piloting talents and his reputation as a competant airman.

In 2069, at the age of 25, Malcolm's latest assignment took him South to Columbia to help aid the war effort.

After one eventful instance in March of 2073, where Malcolm supposedly disobeyed direct orders of his commanding officer, Captain Lee Barrack, and engaged a docked ship supposedly containing several targets of interest, when in actual fact contained over $17 million worth of UCAS military resources. A while later, while waiting to be tried by court martial, Malcolm was approached while in the brig of the USS Koontz by a man described by brig officers as "head to toe in black, no insignia, no patches, nothing". It was here, Malcolm was offered the option to avoid his inevitable sentencing and make reparations towards UCAS by taking part in their experimental '''Tombstone Program'. ''Malcolm was immediately hooked by the prospect of lenient rules and lax protocol while offering the prospect of becoming part of a bona-fide astronautics program and soon found himself on his way to Florida to begin his training.

Tombstone Training
After arriving in Florida, Malcolm was promptly made aware that his new employers were now Ares Macrotechnology and that he has been essentially bought from the UCAS Navy in order to take part in the Tombstone astronautics program.

Over the next 3 years, Malcolm became acquanted with various aspects of astrodynamics, spaceflight theory and EVA training to name but a few. Throughout this period, Malcolm also accrued over 86 hours of spaceflight time.

By April 2076, Malcolm had successfully completed his aerospace pilot training. It was then he was introduced to the rest of the crew that would be serving aboard the Tombstone.

Life aboard the Tombstone
As his nickname throughout flight-school would have suggested, Hendricks took to his new position as pilot of The Tombstone like a duck to water, ensuring both the transportation and the safety of the vessel and her crew.

Despite his primary position as pilot of The Tombstone, Hendricks' skills as a marksman were often called upon too when certain assignments of The Tombstone called for more boots on the ground than wings in the air - despite being happy to follow order, Hendricks would always secretly wish he was in a cockpit than shouldering a firearm.

As his personality would suggest, Hendricks found difficulty in integrating with the rest of the Tombstone crew - a circumstance that would hold him back from securing the promotion to Captain which would secure him the command of The Tombstone, a position ultimately rewarded to Kat Langford. Despite his obvious qualms and objections to this, Hendricks' attentions were diverted when he was promoted to commander of the newly-formed Air Group aboard The Tombstone, an oppurtunity he relished. While he was reluctant to relinquish the piloting of the vessel itself to a recruit, Hendricks realized his talents would be best put to use in more of a command position.

Hendricks gave his life on the planet Tempus, c.2083. See 'Death'

Death
Hendricks died on the planet Tempus c. 2083. According to witnesses, after the enemy vessel known as the 'Redemption' moved to engage the PMV Tombstone (having already sustained signifcant structural damage), Commander Hendricks broke formation and advanced on the approaching vessel alone in his fighter aircraft dubbed the 'War Pig'. At this point, it was reported that the hull integrity of the PMV Tombstone had reached 25% and with only one fusion engine operational at the time, it was unlikely the ship would have the chance to successfully make the warp-jump off Tempus. In an attempt to impede the Redemption's finally volley which would likely have destroyed the fleeing PMV Tombstone, Hendricks primed all available munitions aboard his fighter and launched said ordnance into a now rapidly approaching gun-port of the Redemption. As the combination of missiles and bolts, as well as Hendricks's War Pig itself collided with the Redemption it was reported to produce an immense explosion, resulting in the destruction of the Redemption. As a result, the fleeing PMV Tombstone had now enough time to escape the planet and warp back to familiar space.

Personality
Throughout his military service, Hendricks was not afraid to carry his gruff demeanour through both his time with U.C.A.S and his time when assigned to The Tombstone; despite this, Hendricks does display on rare occasion, a little-known softer side.

Since his upbringing on Earth, Hendricks has adopted a no-nonsense pragmatic approach to his work - a trait that has often landed him in trouble and at the same time was mistaken for hostility or anti-socialness. Due to his military background, Hendricks was taught that the success of the mission was paramount and that making friends is an optional extra - during his UCAS servce, this mantra often manifested itself in Hendricks declining to socialise with his colleagues, instead opting for further work to help himself improve as an airman.

Throughout his service on The Tombstone, Hendricks was undoubtedly reluctant to change his ways and continued to operate under work-first, friends later philosophy. However, despite it taking several years, Hendricks slowly managed to relax into the role he had secretly craved since his time with UCAS where despite the disciplined environment, he was afforded the respect as a pilot he has always sought. In doing so, Hendricks found it easier to open up to his colleagues and slowly began making friends aboard The Tombstone. Unfortunately just as Hendrick was beginning to integrate into the Tombstone community, the events on the planet Tempus forced Hendricks to give his life in order for his new friends to escape; a last indicator of Hendricks' little-known altruistic side.