Admiral Kristen Vorheis was the Commander-in-Chief of Earth Fleet for the Earth Federation during the 3rd Civil War.
Early Life[]
A highly intelligent woman, she was born on Pi One, only inhabited planet of the Pi System, one of many descendants of the original colonists, who had been genetically altered to survive on the harsh world. One of the effects of these genetic alterations was hereditary albinism. Wanting more from life than a few decades of back-breaking labor in the Verendinite mines, she enlisted in Earth Fleet to see the universe. One tour of duty aboard the old Barbarian-class cured her of that wanderlust, and she vowed to never serve aboard a starship again.
Queen of Desk Duty[]
Instead, she transferred to the Bureau of Personnel, and spent the rest of her careeer on the bureaucratic and logsitics side of the fleet, serving aboard battlestations and starports, and at Fleet Headquarters on Avalon, making sure that ships and fleets were fully staffed and supplied, and also making sure that her exemplary performance in these dull but vital duties was noticede by her superiors. Using her good looks and charm, she managed to sway the Technocracy into supporting her career, managing to transfer into Administration. A posting at Avalon got her connections to the circles of political power, and she attached herself to Abdul Johnson'srising star. Her sunshine-and-light personality made her very popular and she became a full admiral at age 38. By the time the Third Civil War broke out a few years later, she was Chief of Naval Operations, and she was soon promoted to Grand Fleet Admiral and became Commander-in-Chief of the entire fleet.
Rise to Power, and Rapid Fall[]
When her patron Abdul Johnson was assassinated and several other conspiracies and coup attempts exploded at once, she launched her own counter-coup, seizing control of the entire Federation Senate and forcing them to convene aboard a Star Control Ship in orbit above Avalon "for their own safety". This kept them out of the reach of Samuel Wall, and away from the several armies marching on the capital at once. She defeated the armies by dropping rocks on them from orbit, and Samuel Wall by sending Erich Von Shrakenberg to negotiate with him or kill him. Being Erich Von Shrakenberg, the negotiaitons went poorly, and he killed Factor Wall. Out of options and lacking political support outside of the fleet, she ended up outmaneuvered by Arthur Clarke, who took over control of her coup attempt and forced the Senate to acknowledge him as new Grand Council Chairman. Vorheis retained her post at Fleet, and was even briefly Marshal, but once the war was won, Clarke forced her into retirement and took the Marshalship back for himself. She was assassinated soon afterwards by parties still unknown, but given the many enemies she had earned over the years, it could have been on the orders of almost anyone.
Behind the Scenes[]
Having grown up in a town populated by Dutch immigrants, the name Vorheis was very well known to Marcus. An albino character was probably an homage to Elric of Melnibone, the fantasy character developed by Michael Moorcock.