Covett Crawford

**Covett Crawford** was a Social Movement politician and military official who served as Commander of the Orion Armed Forces from 52 to 60. She previously served in the first Maladene government as Vice-Chancellor from 47 to 49, as the Premier of Driscoll Province from 43 to 47, and as the National Minister for Defense in the second Shanor government from 39 to 40.

## Early life

Covett Crawford was born in 11 B.R. in Loughdale to Clemens Crawford and Arnett Eschete Crawford, both of whom served in the revolutionary war. Both parents served at the Loughdale AF Base while Covett was a child, and she was a member of the first graduating class at the National Military Institute in 11 A.R.

## Military service

Crawford was deployed to Cheissia under the command of Bancroft Bowers to assist the Bossieux government with intelligence gathering. When Bowers was reassigned to Gaullis in 14, she brought Crawford with her. The election of Charron Shanor as National Premier in 15, and the appointment of Davigny Redwood as National Secretary of the Armed Forces in 16, brought Bowers home to Foveaux, where she was appointed Deputy Secretary. Crawford, still on active duty, was named Bowers's chief of staff.

## Early political career

Following the constitutional transition in 20 and 21, Hughes Stone Wheeler returned to national office and named Redwood Commander of the Armed Forces. Bowers was appointed to the Armed Forces Governance Commission, and Crawford moved to the office of Rackley Calvert, the newly named National Minister for Foreign Affairs. Calvert, who had mentored Bowers for years, received Crawford into her office and named her the office's liaison to the Governance Commission. When Calvert was appointed National Minister for Defense after the 25 A.R. election, she named Crawford her chief of staff and Crawford resigned from the Armed Forces.

When Stone Wheeler stepped down in advance of the 28 A.R. election, the government underwent a radical transformation. Shanor was elected as party leader, Foreign Affairs Minister Racicot Marshall was elected deputy leader, the Rally won the election a few months later, and Davigny Redwood announced that she would step down as Commander by 30. Many politicians in the defense, foreign affairs, and intelligence sectors prepared to move up the food chain. Calvert was widely expected to be appointed by Shanor as Commander, and Crawford began positioning herself to become the next Defense Minister. She resigned from the government and entered the private sector, joining Calvert Strategies as its Vice-President for Public Affairs.

However, Shanor surprised the Rally's political community -- and began sowing the seeds for her demise at Marshall's hands in just a few years -- by allowing virtually no one to move up. When Marshall was elected Vice-Chancellor, she insisted on keeping her Foreign Affairs portfolio. And when Redwood finally stepped down, Shanor tapped Carmody Noah, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the former Vice-Chancellor, as her replacement. In the end, no one moved up and Crawford had left government for no reason. Calvert, a key supporter of Shanor's during the recent leadership spill, was livid at losing her best chance to be Commander. She remained in her position but resented Shanor, and quietly moved to Racicot Marshall's faction in the party.

## National Assembly

Dissatisfied with her time in the private sector, Crawford began positioning herself for a return to politics. As the 31 A.R. election approached, she indicated to the Rally for Driscoll that she was interested in running for the National Assembly from Loughdale. Crawford joining the Assembly was a priority for Rackley Calvert, who made it a priority for Racicot Marshall. Accordingly, the incumbent Member of the National Assembly for Loughdale was persuaded to resign from the Assembly in exchange for a judicial appointment. The local party subsequently selected Crawford as the replacement MNA, and she was elected to a full term a few months later unopposed, even as the Rally lost its nationwide majority for the first time ever.

In the Assembly, Crawford reunited with Calvert, who was named the Shadow Minister for Defense in the Shanor-led opposition, as Deputy Shadow Minister. Crawford distinguished herself as one of the party's best public advocates on television, and her stock began rising. After the party failed to regain its majority in the 34 A.R. election, Crawford supported Calvert, Marshall, and others who called for a leadership challenge to Shanor. In the leadership spill, Crawford publicly endorsed Marshall, who ended up winning.

As a reward for her loyalty, Crawford was named Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs by Marshall. Chancellor Durant Gordon, over the strident objections of Langley Caldwell and the Rally's defense intellectuals, pulled back from the Stone Wheeler government's entanglements in Cheissia and Gaullis. Shortly thereafter, the Bossieux government was toppled in a military-backed coup, with the new leaders hostile to the Orionian government. Crawford publicly castigated the Gordon government for its actions and quickly became a household name.

However, when the Rally won a slim majority in the 37 A.R. election, Marshall was forced to quash a leadership challenge by finding a place for Charron Shanor in her cabinet. Reluctantly, she named Shanor as her National Minister for Foreign Affairs, depriving Crawford of a cabinet position. Calvert was named National Minister for Defense again, and Crawford joined her office as Deputy National Minister.

In 39, amid public dissatisfaction with the Marshall government's perceived slow response to the recession, Shanor launched a successful leadership challenge and ousted Marshall. Calvert, who loathed Shanor, was disgusted with the move and resigned from the government in protest. She declined to run for re-election in 40, and would never serve in federal government again.

Shanor was conscientious of the precarious position she occupied, and couldn't afford to fill her cabinet with her closest allies. Accordingly, Shanor named Crawford as National Minister for Defense. The joy was short-lived, however. The party would soundly lose its majority in the 40 A.R. election, making Crawford the country's shortest-serving Defense Minister.

## Driscoll Province Premier

Shortly after the Rally's loss in 40, Crawford resigned from the National Assembly and returned home to Loughdale. In a common switch for national politicians seeking to enter provincial politics, the member of the Driscoll Assembly representing Crawford in Loughdale Centre resigned, and was appointed to the National Assembly by the party. In exchange, Crawford was appointed to the Driscoll Assembly.

As the 42 A.R. election approached in the province, incumbent Rally Premier Sevier Durbin was under pressure by the party to step down due to her toxic unpopularity. Durbin refused to do so and invited a leadership challenge. Crawford accepted the invitation and was elected leader of the Driscoll Social Movement. In the general election, the Social Movement under Crawford far outpaced the Rally for Driscoll, and Crawford was elected Premier.

Though she was unfamiliar with domestic policy, Crawford proved a quick study and sought to diversify the province's resource extraction-heavy economy. She formed a close alliance with Stockard Maladene, the then-Premier of Saler River Province, who faced similar challenges in a province known for its mining industry. A slight rise in unemployment caused the party to lose ground in the 45 A.R. election, but Crawford maintained a sizable majority.

## Vice-Chancellor

As the 47 A.R. election approached, Racicot Marshall, the party's beleaguered leader, seemed likely to fall short once again. The Shanor-Marshall feud saw the same two party leaders swap control of the party for nearly two decades, and the country's voters had tired of the drama. Party leaders turned to Maladene as a savior, and she accepted the challenge after initially declining. Maladene didn't search far for a deputy leader: She immediately asked Crawford to join her on the national stage, and she immediately accepted.

Given Maladene's greater familiarity with domestic policy, she effectively ceded defense, foreign relations, and intelligence policymaking to Crawford, who relished the responsibility. She worked well with Holton Starbrook, the National Minister for Foreign Affairs and a Maladene ally from Saler River and Abbott Wynwood, the National Minister for Defense, and plotted an aggressive foreign policy in coordination with Langley Caldwell. Caldwell, the former Director of Fovi, formally joined the government as Ambassador to Gaullis, but practically served as co-Vice-Chancellor with Crawford.

In the 49 A.R. election, however, Crawford's career was unexpectedly cut short. A surprising surge by the Onward Nation in Driscoll Province hit home for Crawford, and she lost her bid to represent Greater Loughdale. (Prior to the election, Crawford had served on the Social Movement's national slate, untethered to any constituency.) Barnett Harris, the Social Movement's leader, offered Crawford a spot on the party's slate again, but Crawford, stung by the defeat, declined. She was succeeded as Vice-Chancellor by Jennings Moynihan and left Foveaux.

## Commander of the Armed Forces

Crawford's retirement didn't last longer than the next election, however. She declined an offer to serve as Fovi Director after Ardoin Guerney was term-limited in 51, and declined to run for national office again in52. However, after the election, Ranburne Titan resigned as Commmander of the Orion Armed Forces to stand for the Coalition for the Republic's leadership. Crawford emerged as the most obvious and qualified choice, and quickly accepted Moynihan's recommendation to the Governance Commission that she be appointed.

Crawford served under four different Chancellors five different times, and enjoyed a pleasant relationship with all of them except Bonner Holt. She enjoyed a great deal of autonomy and deference in Foveaux during her tenure and formed an especially close relationship with Fovi Director Barkdull Bowers and Carlisle Noah. When Holt became Chancellor in 57, Crawford joined Noah's shadow government and played a major role in Holt's apprehension as she attempted to flee to Cheissia in 58. Crawford called the Governance Commission into an unprecedented closed session to authorize military action against the Chancellor, which was retroactively sanctioned by the National Assembly and the National Court of Orion.

In 60, Crawford announced her retirement as Commander and urged Moynihan to name former Chancellor Carlisle Noah as her replacement, which she did. After retiring, Crawford refused entreaties by the Social Movement to again run for office. She did, however, serve as an unofficial special envoy to Gaullis following the Faucill election scandal.