History of Jonathan Hein

Jonathan Hein was born in 2635 into a merchant family that plied its trade across the Silenos system and without. At the age of 4 his family's freighter came under attack by a small Kilrathi raiding force off Silenos Prime. The transport was boarded but a privateer gang known as the Silenian Dogs intervened and destroyed the raiding party. By the time the privateers had boarded the transport and neutralized the Kilrathi, few remained but Jonathan and few other young kids. The privateer band's leader, Christopher Gharn, took the survivors under his wing.

As years past, Hein flew with abilities of an Ace every time he got into the cockpit, and he turned out to be the best pilot amongst the privateers. By the time he turned 20, his flying skill had made him “Top Dog” -Wing Commander- of the group. Jonathan knew everybody in the band and was perfect for the position of “Top Dog.” He always knew who the best to send on a raid was and knew how to make the weakest pilot into Ace. He could fly better than any privateer and even Confed pilot, but he wasn't keen on destroying unarmed Kilrathi transports and always berated those who did.

One year later, the Kilrathi attacked the gang's base. They launched everything they had and managed to hold off the Kilrathi, but the cats broke through and boarded the base at 03:55 am. Gharn and his lieutenants and most everyone on the base were killed off. As the battle continued, a Confed force jumped in to retake the system. The Kilrathi redirected their attention toward the Confed force. A battle ensued between the Kilrathi force and the Ranger class escort carrier the TCS Glorious and her escorts: the Exeter class destroyers TCS Suffolk and TCS Jerusalem. Hein regrouped his pilots and landed to assess the situation. With most of the privateers and mercenaries dead in the base, Jonathan had to take charge. Shortly after at 05:00 am, the base picked up communications from the battle and it was obvious that the Confed fleet was losing. Hein had a difficult discussion to make, take this moment to flee or launch everything flyable and strike at the Kilrathi from the rear. The remaining pirates were divided on the issue, but Hein decided to strike.

The mercenaries hit the Kilrathi hard, which gave the Confed fleet enough time to mount an effective bomber strike on the Kilrathi utterly destroying the cat fleet. The pirates lost many of their fighters and a fair number of their remaining pilots in the engagement. With the majority of the “Silenian Dogs” dead, the group disbanded. Hein and five other young pilots from the gang joined Confed and breezed through the Academy and flight school. All six pilots were assigned to the TCS Glorious and flew off her until the end of the war.

When the Union of Border Worlds became an independent government, the Ranger class was retired and the Border Worlds bought the TCS Glorious along with numerous other Ranger class escort carriers. Lt. Col. Hein and Major Gerald “Powerhouse” Graham flew off the BWS Glorious for another 7 years until the Glorious was decommissioned. Hein and Graham were then transferred to the Relentless in 2676. Unfortunately, during a period of increased Kilrathi raids—2676.277-2676.342—the Relentless' wing commander was killed in action along with 58 others from various ships and stations. Hein was promoted to Colonel and became Wing Commander of the Relentless with a grand total of 423 kills in his name. Graham was also promoted to Lt. Col. and became squadron commander of the Relentless' Avenger wing.

Mission Orders from Commodore Wu

Border Worlds Militia Internal E-Mail 07:00 2680.364
From: Commodore Helen Wu, Commander-in-Chief, Vega Fleet
To: Captain Steven Adams, BWS Relentless
CC: Col. Jonathan Hein, BWS Relentless

The smuggling ring known as the Tartarus Gang has been tracked to a small asteroid field in the center of the Tartarus system. The BWS Relentless is ordered to meet up with the BWS Dauntless and Militia Marine troopship BWS Courageous at the Tartarus\Dakota jump point. Your mission is to scour the Tartarus system for the Tartarus Gang's main base. For all intents and purposes the operation is codenamed Operation: Clean Sweep. After the smugglers have been found and arrested, the BWS Relentless is to remain in Tartarus to clean up any stragglers. The BWS Dauntless will continue into Kurasawa dropping off it fighter squadrons en route to the Segallion shipyards. The BWS Courageous will return to Dakota station. This operation is to be handled with the utmost secrecy and swiftness or the gang will get wind and flee to another system. That said; there will be transports calling for assistance in your search. Say nothing and be on your guard for traps.

Good Luck.