Leberecht Keres

Keres' official portrait

### Premier

August Korolev, Niksa Sava Dordevic, Marcus Stafford, Saga Snaedisdottir, Anatoly Batyar Mikhailovich

### Succeeded by

August Truskavets (temporary), Charles Temuulen Vaughan

## Military service

### Wars and battles

Hephaestus Arachnid Crisis, Northern War (Battle of Delibund, Battle of Reclamation), Mystic Uprising (Battle of Acheron), Alkian Civil War (Battle of Hureth)

**Leberecht Keres** (2575-2691) was the Grand Marshall of the Orion Revolutionary Guard from his election in 2600 until his death. Keres was a practitioner and advocate of combined arms operations, using space and air supremacy to support planetary combat spearheaded by elite armored divisions. Keres also left behind a complicated legacy regarding politicization and reshaped the relationship between the government and the military.

Following some moderate success during the early stages of the Northern War, Keres gained fame and renown for achieving a decisive victory over the Sha forces during the Battle of Reclamation, bringing the Sha to the negotiating table and cementing Orion's alliance with the Marionettes.

Keres was involved with the covert activities at Station 7. Although he initially supported the Station 7 endeavors for their potential military applications, Keres eventually grew disenchanted with the increasingly cultish nature of Station 7's activities and attempted to separate himself from Station 7. The fallout from Station 7 led to the Mystic Uprising, during which Keres commanded loyalist forces at the Battle of Acheron which routed the Mystic rebels and restored order to that planet.

The last major military campaign of Keres' career was Operation Nordwind, the orchestration of Orion's involvement in the Alkian Civil War. Keres personally commanded the armored divisions during the Battle of Hureth, reviving the ancient *Panzerkeil* tactic to great effect.

Throughout his career, Keres struggled with attempts from the Presidium and from hostile agents to subvert the military chain of command. Though a lifelong member of the People's Reform Front, Keres attempted to minimize the politicization of the Orion Revolutionary Guard. Ironically these efforts often involved taking active political stances, including a tenure serving on the First Party Committee and a brief candidacy for Premier. Following an attempt from radical elements of the People's Reform Front to seize power, Keres organized a constitutional convention and the Diet of Clark which changed the political landscape of Orion.

## Early life

Keres was born in the capital world of Sanctuary in 2575. After graduating from the Naval Academy, Keres was commissioned as an officer in the Navy on board the fleet carrier *Victorious*. During his Navy years, Keres promoted strike craft as an integral component of fleet doctrine and often utilized massed carrier formations during wargames. By 2600, Keres had climbed the ranks to a position in High Command. Following his election to Grand Marshall in 2600, Keres assumed command of the entirety of the Orion Revolutionary Guard.

### Hephaestaus Arachnid Crisis

Keres' first combat action as Grand Marshall occurred on Hephaestaus where an experiment to produce arachnid super-soldiers went awry. The arachnids had burst free from the research facilities and begun to overrun the planet. Keres led an army of soldiers from the Orion Revolutionary Guard to land on the planet and contain the arachnid infestation. Following several harrowing months of close quarters battle against a terrifying and alien enemy, Keres and his soldiers succeeded in saving the colony. During this time, Keres also met his future wife Eugenia Hipper, who was a native of Hephaestaus. They were married shortly thereafter.

### Minister of War

Enrico Jakov was Minister of War when Keres was elected to Grand Marshall. Jakov approached Keres with a plan to counter Stellar Mass-Reaction Trigger (SMRT) bombs by building a massive network of point defense systems. This defensive network would have consumed the overwhelming majority of the Orion Revolutionary Guard's resources and manpower. Furthermore, Keres knew that point defense was completely ineffective against SMRT bombs. In his autobiography, *Memoirs of a Grand Marshall*, Keres wrote, "Jakov's nonsense proposal led me to conclude that he was either incompetent or corrupt. In either case, I could not abide by such a gross and destructive misstep into the jurisdiction of the military chain of command."

Around this time, General Rehan, a Liaran staff officer under Keres' command, was assassinated. Because Rehan had been favored to replace Jakov as Minister of War, Jakov came under suspicion, and accusations against him were brought by Presidium Member Saga Snaedisdottir. While Keres did not necessarily believe the allegations against Jakov, he nonetheless found the criminal charges a convenient excuse to remove Jakov from the Ministry of War, and the Orion Revolutionary Guard tacitly looked the other way as Jakov was arrested and tried. In an unprecedented and controversial decision, the Tribunal found that there was neither sufficient evidence to convict nor acquit, and sentenced Jakov to exile in Brazil on Earth.

Premier Niksa Sava Dordevic met with Keres and offered Keres the office of Minister of War as Jakov's replacement. However, because Orion law at the time prohibited a military officer from simultaneously holding a ministry position, Keres would have had to resign from the Orion Revolutionary Guard if he accepted the office of Minister of War. Keres, who preferred the clear chain of command in the military, declined the position but instead recommended his subordinate Admiral Derek Schallert. Schallert was later appointed and confirmed as Minister of War. Keres and Schallert, who had gotten along well as Navy colleagues, continued to enjoy a positive working relationship in their respective positions as Grand Marshall and Minister of War until Keres' death in 2691.

### *Tsuikui* Incident

*Tsuikui* was a prototype command ship outfitted with the latest advancements in stealth, cloaking, surveillance, and communications technology. It was allegedly also armed with SMRT bombs. The captain of *Tsuikui* went rogue shortly after construction of the ship was completed, quickly launching from the shipyard and announcing his intention to destroy the Rou'ii, Orion's galactic rival, using *Tsuikui*'s devastating payload. Keres, commanding the Acheron Fleet from his flagship *Illustrious*, intercepted *Tsuikui* in J-81398, a system in space claimed by the Liaran High Clan of Ki'hata. Recalling his earlier years as a strike craft commander, Keres directed squadrons of bombers and fighters from the fleet carrier and four light carriers in the Acheron Fleet to waylay *Tsuikui* and overwhelm her defenses. Following up on the waves of strike craft, the Acheron Fleet succeeded in disabling *Tsuikui* by firing a precision salvo into *Tsuikui'*s bridge and command deck. A boarding party recovered the hull of *Tsuikui* to repatriate it to Orion.

However, the fleet action had been noticed by Clan Matriarch Rasuna Ki'hata, who demanded reparations for the alleged trespass into her clan's territory as well as the destruction of what Ki'hata claimed was a civilian ship, which had been destroyed in the crossfire. Keres countered that the alleged civilian ship was aiding and abetting the mutineers on board *Tsuikui* and was therefore an eligible combatant target. Following a tense negotiation, Keres and Ki'hata agreed that the Orion ships would peacefully exit the system, cleaning up the debris left in J-81398.

## Northern War

The Northern War erupted when the Marionette State, a hive mind empire personified by their leader Mr. Amor, invaded their mysterious neighbor, the House of the Sha. Orion supported the Marionettes, clandestinely providing equipment and military advice. The first engagement of the Northern War was the Battle of Bendelo. Marionette ships poured across the Sha border, taking their enemy by surprise and capturing numerous systems and the planet itself. However, facing increasingly determined Sha resistance, the Marionette offensive soon ground to a halt.

### Battle of Delibund

The next objective was the planet Delibund, the Sha capital world, and Mr. Amor enlisted the assistance of private military companies from Orion. These PMCs were Orion Revolutionary Guard units in all but name, consisting of a volunteer expeditionary force from Orion's regular standing armed forces. The strategic objective had been identified as a radio signal transmitter on Delibund. As long as this transmitter actively monitored the positions of the orbiting Marionette fleet, the Marionettes could not safely land enough armies to seize the planet. Therefore, the PMCs were tasked with infiltrating the planet and destroying the transmitter, thus paving the way for a full attack. Keres and his High Command created a daring strategy that involved paradropping directly on the primary and secondary objectives behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, the Marionette advance scouting force would engage the main Sha defensive army. Heavy casualties were expected because they would be fighting on the enemy’s capital system while severely outnumbered. However, these casualties were deemed acceptable as long as the primary objective was accomplished. By holding strategic chokepoints and forcing the enemy to concentrate their potentially wide front into a narrow sector, much of the enemy’s numerical advantage was mitigated, and the PMCs succeeded in breaking through the Sha rear lines to destroy the radio signal transmitter, thus opening the breach for a full-scale Marionette landing. The Sha fought fiercely in defending Delibund, but they were eventually overwhelmed by the vast armies of the Marionettes.

Though the Orion Revolutionary Guard claimed victory in destroying the primary and secondary radar facilities, and their successful sabotage paved the way for the Marionettes' conquest of Delibund, Orion paid a heavy price. In addition to the loss of many officers and enlisted soldiers, Orion's general staff suffered casualties as well. Commodore Warren Spiff, who had served as Keres' executive officer during the *Tsuikui* Incident, was maimed, losing both his legs. Keres later promoted Spiff to Rear Admiral for his bravery on Delibund. Lieutenant General Nikita Fritz Harpocrates was killed in action leading a bayonet charge against the advice of High Command. General Charles Temuulen Vaughan was captured by the Sha and made to endure many gruesome physical and mental experiments before he was eventually rescued and cleansed. In the assessment of Director Kayden Kaslana, "We barely achieved our objective in the first operation. Most of our units were killed or captured. Harpocrates was killed. Vaughan was captured. Mazil-jo and Lehrmann had to be evacuated off world, and it was miracle that Lehrmann was even able to destroy the transmitter. And yes, Grand Marshall, you did snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. We were this close to losing the entire operation, it was not a guaranteed or easy victory at all."

### Battle of Reclamation

Following the captures of Bendelo and Delibund, the last planet remaining to the Sha was Reclamation. The planet's chief urban hub was the Guma Valley, a massive sinkhole on the planet's surface that housed a population of one billion. In addition to the significant urban centers, the Guma Valley produced roughly half of the foodstuffs of the House of the Sha as well as a third of its energy supply. The goal of the Reclamation Campaign was to strike at the Guma Valley to cripple its infrastructure, disabling the Sha's ability to continue to wage the war. The urban hubs and production centers in the Guma Valley were concentrated in ten Planetary Security Locations (PSLs) located across the sinkhole, and Keres designed the Reclamation Campaign to capture at least six of the ten PSLs, three of which were designated maximum priority.

On Reclamation, Orion committed both PMCs and senior military strategists, as Orion had publicly made their support of Mr. Amor known. In Orion's favor, they had air supremacy and technological superiority. However, their disadvantages were numerous: They were an invading force on a hostile, strange planet, they could not afford to take too many casualties, they did not know the initial positions of the enemy, and they were significantly outnumbered. Only five Orion divisions were deploying against an entire planetary defense army group in a sinkhole that, in peacetime, housed a billion Sha citizens.

Mazil-jo, a former Orion Revolutionary Guard general turned mercenary, commanded the troops on the ground while Keres oversaw strategy from orbit. The initial tactic was a blitzkrieg attack – to send dropships down with all five divisions at the easternmost PSL, bombard the enemy with airstrikes and artillery, use Sabertooth heavy assault tanks supported by mechanized infantry to overrun the remaining defenders, and seize objectives one by one. Initially, the strategy proceeded well. The attackers quickly captured two Planetary Security Locations with minimal Orion casualties.

However, the Sha defenders swiftly regrouped. Recognizing their overwhelming strength in numbers, a dozen Sha infantry divisions, supported by artillery and tanks, converged on a small town west of PSL Bravo where the League divisions had entrenched themselves. A flanking movement by the Sha succeeded in destroying an artillery division and an infantry division. With only three divisions left, and lacking ground support fire, Keres assumed direct control of the ground forces and made a gambit: Distract the enemy and seize strategic objectives. At this point, the strategy evolved from blitzkrieg to force-in-being. Supported by air cover, the two remaining Sabertooth tank divisions held off the entire enemy force, while a division of mechanized infantry slipped past enemy lines and captured the PSLs that the Sha had left undefended. Cut off from supplies, demoralized by the destruction of their planetary infrastructure, encircled by Orion forces, and unable to overcome the rugged defenses of the entrenched Sabertooths, the Sha surrendered.

The cripple or capture of all of the Sha’s planets forced them to the negotiating table for the second time. At the first round of negotiations, after the Battle of Delibund but prior to the Battle of Reclamation, the Sha, backed by the Rou’ii, had demanded not only a status quo antebellum peace but also the payment of significant reparations by the Marionettes to the Sha. This demand was typical of Aquanationalist policy – that the status quo must be preserved at all costs, and those who dared to violate it must pay the price. However, the Marionettes, backed by Orion, stood firm: The gains they made must be kept, for they had been rightfully earned in the blood of battle. The Battle of Reclamation vindicated this view – the final peace treaty gave Bendelo and several neighboring systems to the Marionettes permanently.

Keres wrote a three-part book, *Winning the North*, on his experience commanding the Northern War. Part I discussed the geopolitical background that established both the Marionette State and the House of Sha. Part II discussed the strategy and tactics of the Northern War. Part III was a refutation of Rou'ii Aquanationalist ideology as a consequence of the Orion-backed victory.

## Military Politicization

Though a member of the People's Reform Front for all his adult life, Keres strongly opposed party or government interference into the Orion Revolutionary Guard, which he referred to as "military politicization." Keres preferred to consolidate military command into one structure that ultimately led up to himself. "Soldiers can only be led by fellow soldiers," Keres wrote in his autobiography. "Putting the reins of the army into the ignorant hands of civilian Party commissars, or even worse, the presapients of the Presidium, would only invite ruin and incompetence as people who thought ROE referred to caviar suddenly imagined themselves capable of waging war."

### Politicization by Mazil-jo

Colonel-General Mazil-jo was one of Keres' subordinates who unwittingly crossed the Grand Marshall in the issue of military politicization. Mazil-jo delivered a series of increasingly more agitating speeches on Terra Nova that called citizens and soldiers to political action. In these speeches, Mazil-jo expressed his support and preference for certain Party factions and censured others. He also wrote a manifesto about his vision for Terra Nova titled "The Dimmed Star Shines On" and requested Keres to provide him with a personal army loyal to Mazil-jo. Mazil-jo ran for a seat on the First Party Committee and won. Keres and Kaslana interpreted Mazil-jo's actions as attempts to subvert the military chain of command, break away from the Orion Revolutionary Guard with his own private cult army, and establish his own personal fiefdom on Terra Nova. Keres also perceived decreasing national support for the Orion Revolutionary Guard as the result of Mazil-jo's actions.

Keres approached Presidium Members Pat Jean and Warren Browning about proposing a bill titled "An Act to Maintain a Nonpartisan Military." This bill would permit Orion Revolutionary Guard service members to express their opinions on the Party and on factions only as private citizens. It prohibited leveraging one's membership in the Orion Revolutionary Guard to promote public partisan politics, as Mazil-jo had been doing on Terra Nova. Keres, along with Kaslana, Spiff, and Admiral Nicolas Enclosure, signed on as sponsors to show their support. However, Mazil-jo and General August Truskavets came out against this bill, organizing a rally of military personnel and veterans outside the Presidium. Ultimately the Presidium voted the bill down by a wide margin, with some Presidium members such as Paul von Rickenbacker and Anatoly Batyar Mikhailovich voting no on the grounds that they did not want to set a precedent for the Presidium interference in Orion Revolutionary Guard affairs - a view that Keres appreciated. "Let the Minister of War deal with the military stuff. That is their job," said Mikhailovich regarding his decision to vote down the bill. "Let us show to the Orion Revolutionary Guard that it is not the business of the Presidium to meddle in their affairs."

With the bill stricken, Mazil-jo continued his politicization efforts on Terra Nova. Increasingly alarmed, Keres created Operation Foxglove, a highly classified and top secret plan to assassinate his own subordinate. He shared this plan with Kaslana, who initially supported it, but eventually withdrew his support because it would have consequences beyond Mazil-jo's death. Instead, Kaslana proposed issuing Mazil-jo an honorable discharge from the Orion Revolutionary Guard, leaving Mazil-jo free to pursue his mercenary and political ambitions as a private citizen. Keres eventually acquiesced to Kaslana's suggestion. Ultimately Kaslana was right, as Mazil-jo was very friendly with Truskavets and Vaughan, and if Keres and Kaslana had been implicated in Mazil-jo's death, the Orion Revolutinary Guard would have been fractured far worse than if Mazil-jo had been allowed to live. Keres called off Operation Foxglove, honorably discharged Mazil-jo, and convinced him to resign from the First Party Committee. Mazil-jo soon thereafter founded a private military company called Sunlight Security Solutions.

### Politicization by Timmie Jimmie

Presidium Member Timmie Jimmie, who had previously not been aware of the politicization issue regarding the military, suddenly expressed a new interest in the issue following the vote on "An Act to Maintain a Nonpartisan Military." Jimmie authored "An Act to Maintain a Partisan Military," also known as the Partisan Military Act, which would introduce political commissars into the Orion Revolutionary Guard. These commissars would be appointed by the First Party Committee to "ensure Revolutionary Standards," which Keres interpreted as unwanted civilian and political meddling in military affairs. The bill passed, much to Keres' consternation. It was during this vote that the divide in the Presidium first showed itself regarding politicization. Members who voted against the bill included Rickenbacker, Browning, and Snaedisdottir, while members who voted for included Jimmie and Etienne van Gelach.

Keres raged that once again the "Presdium presapients" had passed a bill that they neither needed nor understood with the consequence that the fighting ability of the Orion Revolutionary Guard would be diminished. Keres was especially concerned that these commissars would subvert his authority over the Orion Revolutionary Guard. "What do presapient politicians know about fighting war? Why must they stick their grubby hands into every pie? Is it not enough for them that I, a Grand Marshall with an unimpeachable battle record, command the Orion Revolutionary Guard? Do they think they can do my job better than I can, or are they simply greedy and want to seize control of the military as nothing more than an instrument of the Party, bent to the perverse desires of stupid bureaucrats and slimy politicians?" Keres ranted in his book.

### Repeal of the Partisan Military Act

Not all hope was lost. Kaslana provided Keres with a list of names of trusted personnel who could be assigned as commissars. Rickenbacker privately shared a loophole whereby the military could create its own definition of counterrevolutionary behavior which would be what was already ordinarily prohibited in the military anyway, so that the commissars would not have any de facto effect on military structure and governance. Most significantly, sympathetic members of the Presidium drafted a bill titled "An Act to Save the Military" which would serve solely to repeal the hated "Act to Maintain a Partisan Military." This bill was authored by Browning and sponsored by many members of the Presidium and High Command including Browning, Antonio Neengiru Zhou, Mikhailovich, Truskavets, Keres, Rosalind Beriel, Alex Sullivan, and Howard Ystamor Long. In addition, because of the urgency of passing this bill, five members of the Presidium - Browning, Zhou, Mikhailovich, Beriel, and Elizabeth Gaprindashvili - co-signed the calling of an emergency meeting to present the bill. During this meeting, Keres, Lehrmann, and Vaughan were called to the Presidium to share their views.

In his speech before the Presidium, Keres described his reasons for opposing military politicization. "All Orion Revolutionary Guard personnel, by virtue of their voluntary service, putting life and limb on the line for the great cause of the Revolution, display self-evident revolutionary spirit. It is therefore completely unnecessary – nay, it is downright insulting – that the Presidium wishes to impose its own biased, skewed version of revolutionary thought on our brave soldiers. The Partisan Military Act treats Orion Revolutionary Guard members as wayward children in need of strict supervision instead of professionals who risk their lives every day to keep us safe from threats to the League and the Revolution," Keres stated.

In a surprising turn of events, Mazil-jo also issued a public statement calling for the repeal of the Partisan Military Act. While Mazil-jo acknowledged that in the past he had advocated for military politicization, he also recognized that the Partisan Military Act ultimately harmed the military. "This is not how it should happen. What this does sets a precedent that the National Presidium may indirectly, or directly, whether they admit it or not, impact the Orion Revolutionary Guard and thus weaken its readiness and efficiency. It is as Keres said. It will weaken us," concluded Mazil-jo.

The "Act to Save the Military" passed, repealing the Partisan Military Act and putting an end to attempts by the Presidium to interfere in military affairs via legislation. Keres expressed his gratitude to his allies Rickenbacker, Browning, Mikhailovich, Snaedisdottir, Schallert, and Long who voted to repeal the odious Partisan Military Act. "These brave friends of the military showed that even yet there remained hope for thoughtful, intelligent voices of reason to prevail against the reckless chaos and unbridled stupidity of the presapients," Keres said.

### First Party Committee

Along with the proposal of the "Act to Save the Military," Keres also nominated himself as a candidate for the vacant seat in the First Party Committee left by Mazil-jo. His platform was simple - to place himself on the First Party Committee so that he would directly oversee the commissar selection process if the Partisan Military Act were to be executed. A popular war hero, Keres won the election with 40.84 percent of the vote, one of the highest election results ever recorded in a First Party Committee election. Ironically, polls among military personnel showed that military politicization had increased as a result of Keres' membership on the First Party Committee.

Keres organized the 82nd Reform Congress but found his First Party Committee duties a distraction from his true calling, the military. Recognizing that the danger of military politicization had passed, Keres declined to run for a second term. After he left the First Party Committee, military politicization once again decreased, to Keres' relief.

### Keres Edicts

As Grand Marshall, Keres issued three major documents on military governance which were together called the Keres Edicts. The first, published in 2620, was titled "Military Rules, Policy, and Procedures." This document formally codified the rules, policy, and procedures of the military. In some areas, this document formalized existing precedents in the military, and in other areas the document clarified Article 10 of the Constitution as it related to military affairs. Notably, the procedures also established the rules for a court martial by declaring that the highest ranking commanding officer of the defendant's branch, or the Grand Marshall himself, would serve as the presiding adjudicator.

In 2646, Keres published the "Orion Revolutionary Guard Political Freedom Decree," and later revised it in 2664. This decree stated that Party membership would be completely voluntary for Orion Revolutionary Guard members. The decree also prohibited compelling service members to join "extracurricular organizations" and banned the dissemination or marketing of extracurricular organizations on Orion Revolutionary Guard property or by active duty personnel. While service members were free to join any such organizations they wished, and would not be punished or rewarded for their membership or extracurricular activities, proselytizing was strictly prohibited. The decree was not taken to curtail freedom of speech.

To ensure that despite any such extracurricular entanglements service members would remain true to the Orion Revolutionary Guard above all, Keres authored in 2664 the "Uniform Curriculum for Military Personnel" which established guidelines for military education. This document required officer candidates at military academies, recruits in training, and active service personnel to regularly complete courses on Orion history, military tradition, and military strategy. The book review portion of the curriculum included Sun Tzu's *Art of War*, Carl von Clausewitz's *On War*, Erwin Rommel's *Infanterie greift an*, and Keres' own seminal work, *Winning the North*.

Together, the Keres Edicts strengthened the cohesion of the Orion Revolutionary Guard and affirmed the role of the chain of command. Over time they also reduced military politicization and improved the public's perception of the military.

## Mystic Uprising

Describe the Mystic Uprising and the Battle of Acheron here.

## Alkian Civil War

Describe the Alkian Civil War, Battle of Hureth, and Operation Nordwind here.

## Death and Legacy

Keres passed away in 2691 of old age, surviving his wife by a few years. He is buried in a military mausoleum on Acheron with Eugenia.

Following Orion's victory in the Battle of Acheron, many statues and plazas dedicated to Keres, Vaughan, and Mikhailovich were constructed and named in their honor. In addition, the Alkians on Hureth renamed a body of water the Gulf of Keres in recognition of his contributions in the Alkian Civil War. Keres' book on strategy, *Winning the North*, continued to inform combined arms operations for many decades. His autobiography also shed light on his decisions and professional relationships throughout his career.

Minister of the Treasury Leander Drivas put Keres on the thousand-dollar note. "The Treasury is pleased to announce that Grand Marshall Leberecht Keres shall henceforth feature on the 1,000. He could have been our Caesar. Instead he was our liberator. Let it never be forgotten," said Drivas in a press release. In explaining the symbolic decision, Drivas noted, "The 1,000 is mostly used in bank transfers. It works quietly in the background to keep everything stable."

The Keres Edicts reduced military politicization during Keres' lifetime, but the military's actions stepping in against the attempted coup cemented what soldiers came to call the Legacy of Keres. The military would continue to expect and enjoy a broad latitude in its own affairs, largely free from government interference or civilian oversight. Many decades after Keres' death, when a communist party began to establish a dominant position in government, the military stepped in to restore balance among the various parties, citing Keres' actions during the constitutional crisis and the Diet of Clark.

The new Constitution passed from the Diet of Clark represented Keres' lasting contribution to Orion's political and legal landscape. He personally campaigned on several planets for local authorities to pass the Constitution, which was fully ratified shortly prior to Keres' death.

## Relationships

Most of Keres' interactions were with fellow military officers, although he also dealt with government officials and Presidium members. Keres held the military in high esteem, but his impression of the Presidium was considerably less favorable, as evidenced by his favorite epithet for them - "presapients."

### Military

Keres had great respect for all loyal soldiers of the Orion Revolutionary Guard. Despite his position as chief of the Orion Revolutionary Guard, Keres granted great latitude and discretion to his subordinates, only pulling rank on them on two occasions during his whole career. The first was during some deep site investigations on Station 7, when Keres bypassed Kaslana and had the deciphered results of some mysterious documents delivered directly to Keres. The second was when Keres overruled Vaughan and Director Sinmed, who both wanted Gelach executed for treason. Keres instead had Gelach released after a private conversation, concluding that Gelach was more useful alive than dead.

### Government

#### Paul von Rickenbacker

"Finding a being capable of higher level reasoning in the chaotic zoo of presapients that we call a Presidium? One may as well go digging in a hog's trough for diamonds. If one succeeds in this endeavor, one ought to partner with him and guard him closely from the idle vagaries of his less evolved peers. I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of the inimitable Paul von Rickenbacker," Keres commented in his autobiography.

Von Rickenbacker, as head of the Ministry of Security, was a useful ally to Keres. Keres also saw von Rickenbacker as one of the few Presidium members who could be expected to carry out his duties with diligence and decorum. Most importantly, Rickenbacker was one of the cadre who voted against military politicization. Following the collapse of the Chess Club, Keres' original clique, von Rickenbacker invited Keres to join his own clique, the BB Friends Club, which included members Kaslana, Snaedisdottir, Truskavets, and Mikhailovich, among others.

When Jimmie and van Gelach pursued a third arrest warrant against von Rickenbacker for his involvement in Stafford's assassination, Keres and Truskavets sequestered von Rickenbacker and Snaedisdottir away in the Mandates, far from Orion, until the charges were eventually dropped.

#### Niksa Sava Dordevic

Dordevic was a Premier elected to office early in Keres' career. Dordevic offered the office of Minister of War to Keres, but Keres declined because he preferred to remain an officer in the Orion Revolutionary Guard.

#### Marcus Stafford

Stafford was a Presidium Member and Premier. Stafford was also a fellow member of the Chess Club clique. Cliques were quasi-legal organizations - officially supporting various political alignments was banned from politics, but in practice most government and military officials claimed membership in one or more "special interest groups" nominally based around hobbies but actually platforms to advance their own political interests. Stafford favored an aggressive foreign policy to assert Orion's dominance in international affairs, and as a result he supported efforts to build up Orion's military. After his election as Premier, Stafford escalated Orion's involvement in the Northern War, authorizing a significant build-up of Orion's military and naval assets. Unfortunately, Stafford was assassinated early in his tenure. Had Stafford lived longer to enact his foreign policy, Keres may have secured a legacy as a conquering general.

#### Anatoly Batyar Mikhailovich

Keres counted Mikhailovich as one of his most dependable government allies and viewed him as a friendly face in the Presidium ever since Mikhailovich spoke out against government interference into military affairs. Keres briefly considered running for Premier during the Election of 2656 after Snaedisdottir's resignation, which was also the first year that Mikhailovich ran for that post. "Recent events, most notably the increased politicization of the military and open riots across our planets, have undermined our stability. I have therefore found it necessary to become more involved in politics, as I would rather steer a ship to safety than allow myself to be run over by it. This is why I am running for the Premiership," explained Keres in a speech to the Presidium.

Keres respected Mikhailovich's work as Minister of Commerce but questioned his lack of foreign affairs experience. In response, Mikhailovich stated that he had worked closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when negotiating trade deals and would continue to keep the Ministry of Foreign Affairs involved when crafting diplomatic policy. Satisfied by Mikhailovich's answer, Keres announced that he would withdrawal his candidacy in support of Mikhailovich.

Mikhailovich won the Election of 2656 and served as Premier for the rest of Keres' life. Keres praised Mikhailovich's tenure for his strong economic policies and willingness to let the military run itself. When Keres organized the constitutional convention many years later, he chose the planet Clark as the location because it was Mikhailovich's home planet. "I wanted Mikhailovich to be the face of the Diet of Clark and for him to be the unifying force of the new Constitution," wrote Keres.

#### Etienne van Gelach

Keres viewed van Gelach as a competent government official although he was wary of van Gelach's Regenesist sympathies, his ties to various militia groups, and his early support of military politicization. When the military carried out the mass wave of arrests in response to the First Party Committee's attempt to consolidate power with the "Second Motion to Strengthen Party Unity," van Gelach was one of those brought in to an interrogation cell. Van Gelach, as a co-signer of the motion, was implicated in the First Party Committee's coup attempt. Furthermore, Van Gelach had re-issued arrest warrants for Keres' allies von Rickenbacker and Snaedisdottir in connection to Stafford's assassination, and he also had asked the Tribunal for a search warrant for Mikhailovich's Cabinet. Concerned by both the First Party Committee's attempt to seize power as well as the drumming-up of decades-old charges against his friends and allies, Keres ordered van Gelach's arrest.

During van Gelach's interview in the military cell, Keres and van Gelach came to a mutual understanding regarding van Gelach's role as head of the Committee of Revolutionary Security as well as van Gelach's leadership of Regenesist militias. Van Gelach agreed not to pursue further arrest warrants against Keres' allies, leaving the prosecution up to the Tribunal - which eventually dropped the charges entirely. In addition, the Regenesist militas founded by van Gelach would be de-deputized and demobilized everywhere except on Baravati, where they were involved in the brutal guerrilla war. The "Second Motion to Strengthen Party Unity" had been broadly dismissed by the Presidium, the Premier, and the planetary governments, so Keres saw no issue with releasing van Gelach. Releasing van Gelach was the second and final time that Keres pulled rank on his subordinates, as both Vaughan and Sinmed wanted van Gelach executed. Van Gelach himself did not expect to leave the military cell alive.

Keres still felt some gratitude toward van Gelach, who had arrived personally as part of the rescue force at Station 7. In addition, a petition circulated among the military and shown to Keres demonstrating support for van Gelach among Regenesist veterans and officers who had otherwise spotless combat records helped ensure van Gelach's survival. It was also during this conversation that Keres began to seriously consider the idea of a constitutional convention, as the existing government apparatus had shown itself too vulnerable to coups and centralization.

After the Diet of Clark convened, van Gelach organized a competing conference - the Diet of Terra Nova. Keres, who expected van Gelach to retire and fade away into private life, saw the Diet of Terra Nova as a betrayal. In comparing the two conferences, Keres said, "One's a Diet. One's a group of irrelevant has-beens on the verge of complete irrelevancy composed of the most hated man in the League [van Gelach], a convicted kidnapping felon [Presidium Member Sebastian Bean], and a war criminal [Mazil-jo]."

#### Timmie Jimmie

To Keres, Jimmie would be forever tainted by the unforgivable sin of attempting to politicize the military. Unlike van Gelach, who Keres viewed as a competent though at times misguided administrator, Jimmie had no redeeming qualities whatsoever in Keres' eyes. Following Jimmie's attempt to seize power via the "Second Motion to Strengthen Party Unity," which would have centralized massive amounts of government power into Jimmie as a First Party Committee member, Keres had Jimmie arrested by military police and confined to a cell. He was interrogated and imprisoned for years before finally being sentenced to death by hanging. However, before the military police could hang him, Jimmie bit into a poison pill he had concealed within a tooth and killed himself. Not one to waste good rope, Keres had the military police executioners string up Jimmie's body anyway. During his final years in the cell, Jimmie reportedly began to lose his mind, muttering one phrase over and over again until his death: "This cat just j."

### Family

Keres met his wife, Eugenia Hipper, on Hephaestus. They were married shortly thereafter. The couple had two daughters, Nimi and Fiize. Nimi joined the Orion Revolutionary Guard and was assigned to the Sawa Fleet, although Keres had attempted to dissuade her from a military career. Fiize found a career as a scientific researcher with the Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Eugenia joined Keres in the BB Friends Club. Though his duties often called him away from home, Keres regularly exchanged letters with his wife and children. Keres attempted to shield his private family life from public scrutiny as much as possible. In one rare public appearance together, when Keres and Eugenia attended BBCon, they were noted to buy each other chibi figurines of von Rickenbacker and Sirin.