Jerry LaSaille

Immortal-- The word conjures visions of Greek gods and palaces. Jerry LaSaille sees none of this when the bullets of the Vietcong teach him he is unlike other men. Follow his adventures from the turbulence of the 21st century into the mature Federation of the 24th.
==Profile==
*Created By: Garry Stahl 
*Appearance: Epiphany Trek, see below. 
*Full name: Jerold Ryan LaSaille
*Race: Earth Human ("Flint" type Immortal*)
*Birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky, Earth
*Current Residence: Jerry splits between his house on Savanna and Bellacolone on Earth. He makes frequent use of the Express.
*Parents: Father: Ryan Clark LaSaille Navy veteran of the Second World war and Gentleman Farmer. Died 1971 <BR>                 Mother: Mary Louise Penbrooke LaSaille Southern Belle. Died 1971
*Siblings: Louise Magnolia LaSaille born 1951 died 1971<BR>                 Robert Clark LaSaille born 1954 died 1971<BR>                 Mary Margaret LaSaille born 1956 died 1971
*Birthdate: January 14, 1948 
*Sex: Male
*Height: 1.82m 
*Weight: 104kg 
*Build: Heavy 
*Marital status: He is bonded Ane style to Aleilan, a terrible mistake but one they deal with. He has a more conventional relationship with Elizabeth LaSaille, a most unconventional woman. He has had many wives and girlfriends in the past. Some worked out better than others. No one night stands are indicated. They have happened, he is not a man of stone.<UL><LI>Susan Denise Lancaster -- Married in 1969 she was killed two years later with their infant son.</li>Sara Green -- Anglo woman that wormed her way into his shell during the Pestilence of the Naughts She never got any deeper, and they drifted apart.Anne Degeeves -- Murdered a year and a half into the relationships. It was very serious.</LI>Nani Mobongo -- Ansisi woman on Savanna. They had a long and fruitful marriage. It was a happy time for him. She died of old age.Candice Meyers -- Fellow Starfleet officer. They were thrown into a survival situation that ended up as a sexual relationship. Not the healthiest of circumstances. Duty pulled then apart.</LI>Eshi Nia NeAnsisi -- Another Ansisi woman that took him on a whirlwind ride during his time at Starfleet command. It started to fall apart when he wouldn't turn down space duty. She and Clarke, their son, went to Savanna. The marriage dissolved slowly in drama.</UL>
*Description: His complexion is Nordic pale, but usually tanned a fairly deep brown. If he has been around El Nanth it is almost chocolate. He is of a stocky build. Not a fast runner he is however quick, and surprises people with his actual mass. The one truly notable thing about his appearance is that his body is covered in scars. Most are from the 21st century, and one incident in the 23rd. Clothing has the I found this and wore it appearance. He has no great sense of style. He commonly wears a jacket of some kind. He is always armed.
*Skin coloring: Naturally Pale, usually tanned to the extreme.
*Eyes: Blue 
*Hair: sandy brown/blond hair worn short off the collar. Usually bleached nearly white.
*Routine Activities: What ever strikes his fancy that day. He is responsible to no one but himself right now.
*Skills/Training/Professional Skills: Engineer (several kinds), Medical Doctor, Musician, Diplomat, Starfleet Command school, Businessman, among others. 
*Financial Status: Filthy rich
*Group Affiliations: The All, Starfleet, Bicorn Industries, the ADF, Earth Dome, Glade Outsider Government
*Known Associates: Falan, Admiral Jay P. Hailey
*Personality: Jerold LaSaille is an old man, and a complex one. He can be by turns friendly and outgoing, then moody and sullen. He is a past master at the art of evading a question, and will also look you in the eye and deliver the exact truth.<P>He has seen more than any man's share of grief, and is more than a little impatient with stupidity. Sometimes he is impatient to the point that he would as soon disintegrate you as ask you to move... again. At times he is not fit company for man or beast. Jerry long ago gave up any idea of a caring, paternal god and figures that if God exists, the universe is his funny farm, and Jerry LaSaille the chief clown. The Ane All is a comfort to him, to know that in death not all is lost, but the "Faith of his Fathers" is toast. He is about the most Ane human you will come across, but considerably more grumpy than most Ane have the capacity for.</p>That being said, he is a fun fellow to be around with the times are good. He does enjoy young people with curious and open minds. He is patient with children of any species. It's the old and ridged he has little patience with.
*Ambitions and Goals: Rather between them right now. With the Builder type Biomechs kids with Elizabeth is not off the table. 
*Physical/mental Problems: Those of a 400 year old man. Careful management is the only thing that keep him from slipping in time. The Human brain is not built for that long a life. Aleilan is a centering presence. He has come close to losing his Humanity, except for that centering presence. 
*Enemies (And Why): Friends come and go, enemies accumulate so goes the saying. LaSaille outlives them. He is not real popular with the Real politik branch of Earth and Federation politics right now having had a hand in smashing their plans and jailing Leyton.
*Special Abilities: Telepath, Immortal. 
*Weaknesses/Disadvantages: Grouchy old guy. He suffers fools poorly, and likes fools to suffer. That can get in the way.
*History and Experiences Which have Affected Character Greatly:Career: (all dates are Okuda, and subject to change.)</P><P>Education: 1953-1965: Primary and secondary education in the Lexington public school system. Good marks.</P><P>1966: LaSaille is drafted into the United States armed forces. He enters the Army and begins basic training. Due to the influence of his Father he sees military service as a good thing, service to the country as positive.</P><P>1967: LaSaille's unit is called overseas in the build up in Vietnam.</P><P>1968: During the "Tet" offensive in Vietnam LaSaille is struck by machine gun fire in Phnom Pen. He is thought dead, but survives the assault to be medically discharged from the Army He took over 50 slugs in his body. Doctors mutter about miracles. LaSaille pretends to be more hurt than he knows himself to be.</P><P>1969: Jerold Ryan LaSaille marries Susan Denise Lancaster on Saturday June 14. It is the Social Event of the Season as fully reported in breathless prose by the Lexington Hearld-Leader.</P><P>1970: The LaSailles move onto the University of Michigan campus where Jerry is studying under the GI bill, and a good deal of help from the family.</P><P>1971, 13 October: Bellicolone, the LaSaille family house, is destroyed by a tornado during the course of a large family gathering. The house collapses into the cellar where the family has taken shelter and Jerry is the only survivor.Suddenly very rich and profoundly grieving Jerry returns to college and buries himself in the work.</P><P>1975: LaSaille graduates from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in engineering, and minor in biology. He leaves for Kenya to do work in his minor with a friend. The trip is a lark with Jerry figuring that he will do no serious work. He turns down an offer to work with NASA's deep space development team to go.</P><P>1976: January LaSaille, against his better judgment, aids a "wild" Grayson Antelope with a torsion of the uterus. The Grayson, an Ane, delivers her child right into his lap. The newborn shocks his mental defenses down with her first loud utterances. LaSaille has "discovered" the Ane. After the Ansisi and Ane elders explain the situation to him he agrees to keep quiet about it, becoming an Ansisi himself.Because Aleilan's (the child) first mind touch after birth was to his mind a special bond was formed.LaSaille spends most of his time in the Ansisi lands, with trips back to the US to take care of business.</P><P>1992: Outbreak of what will become the Eugenics wars. LaSaille is caught in Kenya at the start of the war.</P><P>1996: LaSaille leads a insurgency band in Kenya. The brutal treatment of the local people by the forces of Kahn Singe overcomes his reluctance to get into the fight. He is "killed" several times, this time with witnesses. The fact he is still moving becomes local legend. "The Ghost Who Walks" becomes an inspiration to the insurgents and a thing of fear to the enemy.</P><P>2000: The Pestilence of the Naughts. Following the destructive Wars of the 90's plague sweeps the world. LaSaille, still in Africa, cobbles together basic animal husbandry, a few medical books, and what supplies he can scrounge into a semblance of a medical practice. He becomes a doctor the old fashioned way, trial and error. In spite of the ad hoc nature of his equipment and training he is able to do some good in a land where doctors have become rarer that gold. He and his assistants move up and down the east coast countries in a fleet of land rovers in similar shape to his medical equipment, on roads that are worse.</P><P>2008: LaSaille manages to get back to Bellicolone and begins to rectify two decades of remote management damage. With the bureaucracy disabled on most import controls, he manages to import several Ane as "animal specimens". This gives the Ane a base in North America for the first time.</P><P>2010: LaSaille gets the farm in order. And takes Ane around the country as well as he can to give them more locations.</P><P>2035: The outbreak of Green's War. This time LaSaille stays home, and defends Bellicolone from insurgent forces.</P><P>2042: Green's war ends on North America. The United States is balkenized, with only the US east of the Mississippi still called the United States. Sporadic raids will be made back and forth across the river. Bellicolone is mostly safe from attack. LaSaille set himself up as his own son. He returns to the University of Michigan and tests out of the under graduate program in one year. He proceeds to upgrade his degrees and seeks a medical license as well. His professors are much impressed by the "young genius".LaSaille will spend the next 20 years trying to live a normal life. This will include a tenured professorship at the University of Michigan and for the first time in nearly half a century chasing girls.</P><P>2048: LaSaille realizes that the UofM tri-logic computer has woken up. Shortly thereafter it becomes obvious that it is not the only one. AI programs are turning "real" around the world.</P><P>2061: With Green agitating for another war in secret, and LaSaille working both ends from the middle to stop him, LaSaille begins a warp ship program at UofM. He funds the entire enterprise.</P><P>2063: After his Fiancee Anne Degeeves is killed by a car bomb meant for him LaSaille "steals" the warp ship SS Savanna and breaks for El Nanth with the Ane Aleilan.</P><P>2065: After 84 weeks in deep space the SS Savanna pulls into the abandoned Builder Station. The prototype ship is in sad shape, and out of warp power. LaSaille takes a Builder built shuttle to Savanna, leaving the SS Savanna docked at the station.</P><P>2144: LaSaille meets with members of the crew of the USS Ulysses S Grant for an exploration of the wreck of an old trading ship still on the station. Commander Phillips, the Grant's XO, will later blame him for wrecking her Grandfather's life and draws on him. He shoots her.</P><P>2336: LaSaille leaves El Nanth to apply at Starfleet Academy. He is accepted and begins the four year course.Officer Evaluation: Good, entered into the command program.</P><P>2340: Lieutenant jg. LaSaille is assigned to the USS Parness for a five year cruise.</P><P>Officer Evaluation: Good. Promotion to Lieutenant.</P><P>2245: Assignment to the USS Potemkin a freedom class cruiser "new" thirty years ago.</P><P>2246: The four years war breaks out between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The USS Potemkin finds herself in the thick of it. In one brief encounter a senior Lieutenant is killed. LaSaille is promoted to replace him.</P><P>2247: The USS Potemkin is disabled and boarded by Klingons. LaSaille is one of only two survivors. He and the other survivor, Eng. Candice Meyers, escape and hide from the Klingons for two years on Anaxar. LaSaille carries out careful missions of intelligence and sabotage.</P><P>2250: The Relief of Anaxar and the Anaxar Peace Conference. LaSaille is instrumental for his understanding of the Twook language in the discussions.Officer Evaluation: Heroic Promotion to Lieutenant Commander. He is awarded the Gold Palm, the Silver Palm with laurals , and the Palm of the Anaxar Peace Mission.Assignment on the USS Republic helm and operations officer.</P><P>2252: The Republic is heavily damaged in action against Orion pirates. LaSaille's timely action and quick thinking are credited with saving the ship when Captain Marshall is killed. LaSaille is awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted to Commander.Assigned to command the USS Lydia Sutherland, a light cruiser. Contrary to all his previous experience the cruise with the Lydia Sutherland is uneventful. Officer Evaluation: Excellent. Promotion to Captain.</P><P>2258: LaSaille turns the Lydia Sutherland over to a young and coming hotshot named Commander James T. Kirk.LaSaille takes assignment as a staff officer at Starfleet Command. He married Eshi Nia NeAnsisi during this time.</P><P>2261: Assigned as the commanding officer of the USS Kongo NCC-1710.While in route to patrol of the Klingon/Orion border the USS Kongo is assigned ot do a sensor sweep of the Sigma Terantix system (Boila) In investigating the Prime Directive protected world the Kongo detects an extinction grade asteroid on an impact course with the inhabited planet. The Kongo conducts successful operations to reduce the asteroid so that it is not dangerous to life. They are awarded a Red Cross Unit Citation.LaSaille will command the Kongo for eleven years and holds a record for the fewest live fires of his weapons against sentient foes. Officer Evaluation: Excellent. Assigned to roll out the USS Constellation NCC-1974</P><P>2273: Lasaille is assigned to the commissioning and roll out of the new Constellation class of ships. LaSaille will take the Constellation on her shakedown and first five year mission. He is never as fond of the Constellation as he was the Kongo. Officer Evaluation: Good: Promoted to Rear Admiral.</P><P>2278: LaSaille is assigned the command of the El Nanth Starbase. It is for him a cushy assignment after 15 plus years in space. He can go to work, come home and sleep in his own bed.</P><P>2283: Assigned to Starfleet Headquarters as Deputy Chief of GXC Fleet Operations.</P><P>2285: Promoted to Vice Admiral. Assigned as Chief of Galactic Exploration Command.</P><P>2294: Promoted to Full Admiral. LaSaille retires from Starfleet. Rumor has it he had some matter of disagreement with the Chiefs of Staff. He will engage in a number of industrial enterprises over the next several decades.</P><P>2310: The USS Kongo NCC-1710 is judged unfit for further upgrades, and retired from service. She is demilled and sold to private concerns. In person one Jerold Ryan LaSaille. LaSaille spares no expense at returning the Kongo to the condition of her salad days. She is stored ready to sail at the Builder Station fleet dock AA-137</P><P>2330: LaSaille serves the ADF, once USS Kongo as Chief Engineer on on of her frequent training missions with local militia. "It keeps her in diLithium and anti-matter" as he puts it. Under former Captain T'lur, now serving as a Vulcan diplomat the pirate Prey Seeker is taken.</P><P>2358: LaSaille gathers a crew of cadets at the Builder Station for the purpose of refiting and restoring the SS Savanna to operational status. The purpose is to show her off at the Sol Starflight Tri-centennial in two years.</P><P>2360: LaSaille and the cadets, with an assist from the USS Terra sail the SS Savanna to the Sol Starflight Tri-centennial. The ship, the only 300 year old starship capable of flight is a hit.</P><P>2370: LaSaille has a short conversation with a Captain James Timothy Kirk on the merits of ships named Kongo.
===Awards===
*US Army 1966 - 1968: Vietnam War 1967-68 Silver Star, Purple Heart, Vietnam medal, Overseas medal, Marksmanship - Expert, Good conduct medal
*Eugenics War 1992 - 1998: Heart of the Lion (Kenyan Provisional Government)
*Colonel Green's War 2035 - 2042: Not part of any formal armed forces.
*Starfleet Service 2336 - 2394: Pentares Ribbon of Commendation, first class, Four Years (Klingon) War Theater Ribbon, Terren Heart, with five clusters, Gold Palm, Silver Palm with laurels, Palm of the Anaxar Peace Mission, Federation Medal of Honor, President's Unit Citation for Valor, Karagite Order of Heroism, Red Cross Unit Citation, with four clusters(CO), Solin Peace Medal, Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry with cluster, Kallfaix Victory Medal with cluster. Brotherhood of Honor -- Klingon Empire, awarded after the end of the Klingon tensions for aiding the TarghSoS (Targh Sow)
==On Immortals==
This was first presented as end notes following "The Flight".
More musings on the character of one Jerold Ryan LaSaille. I am not really cutting any new ground here, but placing the character within old ground. The character is based on several assumptions. "Flint the Immortal". Introduced in "Requiem for Methuselah", was a man, of normal human stock that possessed incredible regenerative powers, and an amazingly long life span. The younger of you might think of "Highlander", but I tend to think the idea might have been sparked by Robert Adams' "Horseclans" books. All three contain immortals with similar abilities and back grounds.
The Horseclans immortals are sterile, extremely long lived and do not age, and cannot be killed unless beheaded or drowned. Adams gives no explanation as to where they come from or how they happen. They just are.
Highlander requires beheading, but a mystic origin is hinted at, hammered at in the later movies and the TV show. They are also sterile.
"Flint Immortals" have the least explained about them. Other than long lives and amazing recuperative abilities, we know nothing. Even fertility is not addressed. At the end we learn that Flint is dying. McCoy assumes a lack of some vital Earth "radiation". I will assume otherwise. My take on the "Flint Immortal".
They are not truly immortal. Extremely long lived, to the tune of four millennia, but they do wear out and die. They do possess an amazing regenerative ability to recover from wounds. Interruption of the central nervous system, or suffocation can kill them. They cannot walk under water. Disease is unknown. When a bug bites them, the bug dies. McCoy was indeed right when he said that Flint was dying, however he could also have been mistaken as to the amount of time he had to live. Flint could well be still alive. His decline had nothing to do with leaving Earth, and everything to do with is age.
They are not sterile. While they can reproduce, they do not breed true, even in the rare event that a male and female immortal meet each other. The children of immortals are normal in every respect.
The are rare beyond rare. The reason for their existence is unknown for the simple reason that enough examples have never been found to study. Flint, and LaSaille could, in fact, be the only two that have occurred in recorded human history. One might assume as many as one per 1000 years. This means that perhaps two others are alive and roaming the Galaxy. Do other races have immortals? Good question, I'll let someone else answer it.
==Stories in which Jerry LaSaille is a major character.==
The Flight -- The dogs of war are restless in their kennels, yet man has been given his greatest hope. Jerry LaSaille flees the coming storm, and muses over the reasons why. Set in the mid-21st century.
Breakthrough -- The Savanna has moldered at Builder Station for 25 years. The Ane have been rescuing people from Earth for nearly that time. El Nanth wants them dead, and life isn't easy. How will they survive?
The Sins of the Sons -- Forty years after the end of the Romulan War, Professor Richard Barnard is called again to serve the Federation. Handed a political hot potato can one old man discover the Sins of the Sons?
Call No Man Dead... -- His ship destroyed, Lt. LaSaille struggles to free himself and his fellow officer from the Klingons. A Four Years War era story.
Hail to the Valiant -- A covert mission gone wrong starts Lt. Commander LaSaille and his shipmates on the USS Republic down a path they would rather not travel.
The First Principle -- Captain Jerold Ryan LaSaille takes command of the USS Kongo NCC-1710. Soon he and his crew will be tested. What is the First Principle of the Federation, and what are they willing to risk to uphold it?
Collateral Damage -- Captain Jerry LaSaille and the Kongo NCC-1710 sail again. The cost of war is well known and lasting. Can old allies and old enemies find new ways, or will the scars of past war tear everything apart.
The Jerry LaSaille Shorts -- A series of short short scenes featuring Jerry LaSaille and his family. They cover dates from 1865 to 2320 so far.
After the Voyage -- What happens around the principle characters in Star Trek IV; The Voyage Home? A peek at things behind the scenes, mainly from the point of view of Admiral Jerry LaSaille.
That Thou Art Mindful -- Man is not made to last 400 years. Jerry LaSaille faces the consequences of being a freak of nature. Survival isn't the question, but will he live sane?
Reunion -- Consul T'lur meets with figures from her past. Will matters come to an acceptable conclusion, or will old wounds be opened anew?
To Sail the Starry Sea -- These are the Voyages of the Warp Ship Savanna. Her exile, and her return. A tale told for a ship.
==Author Comment==
As Captain Jay Hailey is Jay P. Hailey's self insertion character, Jerold Ryan LaSaille is mine. When playing Star Trek as kids he was my character. In early Star Trek role-playing, when we didn't even know about D&D and didn't have a hint of a system, he was my character.
Now many years later I have done a bit of house cleaning on that character concept, become comfortable with the inherent super power of being immortal, and done my best to see that it is not a crippling advantage that prevents Jerry from being a Human being. 
The essence of Mary Sueness is the perfection of the character, or cutout. Mary Sue is not a character. Characters have flaws. If Jerry is to be a self insertion character he will be that. He suffers my flaws as well as my likes and dislikes, and how I would like to see myself. It is perhaps for these reasons I can be more brutal with Jerry than I can with many of my characters. James Timothy Kirk doesn't get nearly the kicking around that Jerry does. And because I can kick him around, his stories are some of my most popular, and most honest. --Garry Stahl
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Category:Epiphany Trek
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Category:Epiphany Trek