Jack Marber

## Overview

* Has been in the Pod Doc while a sergeant in the Empire's Special Assault Marines so has extra healing capabilities.
* Was court martialed for failing to follow orders and destroy a Dark Tomorrow strong hold because he didn't recognize who he thought were children were really small aliens.
* After 6 years in prison he meets Tc'aarlat in a bar and together the buy the with funds Tc'aarlt embezzled from a Yollin mob ICS Fortitude.

## Activities

### Shadow Vanguard

#### Gravity Storm

Jack and the Fortitude are hired to carry a shipment to Etheric Empire Station 11. On the way they are attacked by Skaine pirates who Jack and the crew kill and destroy the pirate vessel. Jack finds out the shipment and pirates were a test by Nathan Lowell who wants to hire the Fortitude and its crew to do covert intelligence in that sector.

Jack agrees as it gives him an opportunity to settle scores with Dark Tomorrow.

The crew (Tc'aarlet, Jack, Adina and Mist) go to Alma Nine after the president is murdered. The suspicion is the murder is because she has committed to have Alma Nine join the Etheric Empire. While there the investigation is complicated as a scientist working on the weather control system creates a weather and gravity storm over grief that his wife's death is not being publicly mourned. The nanobots causing the weather and gravity are being controlled by a computer that is password protected by the scientist (who committed suicide) with his wife's DNA. He has hidden the body but they recover a bloody knife from the kitchen and end the storm. At the funeral ceremony they discover the vice president is a member of Dark Tomorrow and arrest him.

#### Immortality Curse

The team handles multiple issues. First they take out a drug lord who has been needs to be curtailed. Then they go to an mining asteroid and stop the abuse of the indigenous people by the mine owners. Afterward they are requested to visit Astone to give Bethany Anne's condolences to the queen on the death of the consort.

In her grief Queen Lapis Lazuli has asked her lead scientist to develop a cure for death. Unfortunately the cure turns her subjects into zombies who attack and infect each other. As the "cure" spreads she makes the ultimate sacrifice and detonates a bomb that floods her province with lava, protecting the rest of the planet.

#### Ultimate Payback

The Shadows continue to attack the Don Gan'barlo's organization to cut off his money flow. They bluff the Don's accountants to steal information and money. The meet Meemar, a Balgarian, who is fleeing the mob because she stole a datachip with their organizational data on it. She wants to exchange it for brother Meemo, who is essentially a slave with other Balgarian coders working on the mob's software. After meeting the Shadows, she changes strategy and offers the chip to them if they will help save her brother.

The Shadows capture 2 of the Yollins who were chasing Meemar. Gunth'calaat and Ben'delon are subjected to decades of Sesame Street videos at Jack's request to Solo. That and the fact the Shadows didn't outright kill them and the Don will leads them to help the Shadows.

The Shadows find the Don's lair at the Yollin embassy, another sign to Tc'aarlet about how corrupt his people are. The Shadows blast their way into the embassy using a Jean Dukes Special Thunderbolt. The hackers hear the attack and Weedard uses his hacking skills to shut down the security systems including the shackles holding the hackers in place. He also turns in the automated gun system on the guards. Using the datachip Meemar had recovered, Adina downloads information off the servers and begins salvaging server parts to take back to the Fortitude. As they leave Adina destroys the Don's area in the embassy, another blow to his organization.

Then Nathan sends the team to planet Miseria to try to help stop a civil war between the 78th Movement and the Cold Faction arguing of what temperature to set the global climate control to. One faction wants it at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, the other 62. This factors into the attack on the Don because he is selling arms to both sides and has interest in escalating the war, not ending it. As the Shadows arrive on Miseria they are immediately engaged by Cold Faction and with Solo offline due to Adina's upgrade effort the Fortitude is shot down. The Cold Faction has also received a shipment of powered armor and is rapidly overtaking the 78th movement troops. The mob representative to the 78th uses the Cold Faction victories to push the 78th to also purchase armor. What neither side knows is the armor is defective and if heavily used explodes.

Bounty hunter Shi'Tan has also been sent by Nathan to Miseria. He teams up with Shadows and the Yollin ex-prisoners to end the war.

Jack knows Dr Pinvell Ameliov who for a price will change a person's face and or body, even making them look like a different species. The Dr. has done lots of work for the Gan'barlo mob and the Shadows hope to get his records so they can go afte the altered mob members. Once Jack is at the doctor's office, the doctor plans on capturing him and selling him to the Don. The doctor is fixated on the changes he wants to inflict on Jack and doesn't see Adina and Tc'aarlat come in. The team takes him out but not before the Doctor shows he is a Wechsalbalg wolf and he has highly modified even that.

#### Alien Genocide

The Shadows are sent Renesta to help the Enkelites adjust to the planet. The Enkelites planet, Fruling, had become a battleground between two other races. The planet was being destroyed and the Enkelites, as members of the Empire were rescued and were being moved to Renesta which would need minimal terraforming to meet their needs. The planet is outside the Empire so the Shadows are considered a good alternative to resources directly associated with the Empire.

The environmentalist Bon Noh belives there is life on Renesta and blocks the Enkelites and Shadows from terraforming. The Shadows risk their lives to gather the single cell lifeform and are allowed to settle the planet. Shortly afterward there are 50 savage deaths of the Enkelites. The team finds out there is a race called the Onbir who have hidden themselves in status for over 16,000 years. Their robotic guards lead by Designate One consider all other forms of life a threat. After the Fortitude destroys most of the guards Jack convinces Designate One that the galaxy has advanced beyond the Onbirs and unless he backs off the mountain fortress will be destroyed. The best alternative is to wake the Onbirs and have them live with the Enkelites in peace. The awakened Onbirs not only agree, but are appalled by the deaths caused by Designate Oned and work to reprogram him.

Jack finds out that his Nanocytes were neutralized by an injection he received in Ultimate Payback. His broken arm is naturally healing, slowly and he has started getting grey hairs on his head.

The crisis solved, the Shadows plan to go rekindle their effort to eliminate the Don and his crime family.

#### Family Reunion

The Shadows go to City Station Fairhill to meet with Nathan about their next assignment and hopefully pick of trail Don Gan’barlo. Fairhill is having a drug problem with Eternity as well as an outbreak of were wolves being controlled by shock collars. Jack finds Theo Young, a man he served in the marines with, addicted to Eternity and vows to get him rehabilitated.

Naka-Lee, a Mutanaraian, has developed a control collar to keep Wechsalbalg wolves controlled and in their wolf form. Benjamin offers to bring her Adina because of Adina's ability to partially change and defeat the suppressing medications. The reason she has the need is someone acquired one of the Pod-docs and modified a bunch of willing volunteers before anyone noticed it was happening. The resulting weres are weak compared to the Empire weres.

Adina has found out her Uncle Yousuf died, the only person in her family who was still attached to her has died. She is grieving the loss of the last of her family life. Her father, Usman, does come to the funeral and praise Yousuf for taking care of Adina. Adina rejects his offer to reconcile.

Naka-Lee turns out to be the cause of the drug crisis on the station as well as the werewolf problem. She has imprisoned Don Gan'baro and taken over his drug empire and is using the werewolves to supplement her enforcers. Naka-Lee has also been impersonating the Don, Kirandeep and Briona, the later two in order to trap Adina. Naka-Lee actually killed Yousuf to lure Adina to the station. Naka-Lee wants to clone Adina's ability to reject the suppression drugs into her werewolves as well as use Adina as a personal pet. After trapping and experimenting on Adina, Naka Lee freezes her and takes her her escape ship.

The team attacks Naka-Lee's planned escape ship which releases Adina. Draven had talked to Adina about being a werewolf. That she shouldn't try to control the wolf, but to be with the wolf as a partner. When Adina does go after Naka-Lee she is in control. The team does capture Naka-Lee as well as taking out her organization.

### Judge, Jury and Executioner

#### Serial Killer

Mentioned as a very fearless man by one of the serial killer's victims but does not actually appear in the book.

## References

1. ↑ Dublin, Tom; Anderle, Michael; Martelle, Craig. Shadow Vanguard Complete Series Omnibus: Books 1-6 (p. 805). LMBPN Publishing. Kindle Edition.
2. ↑ Dublin, Tom; Anderle, Michael; Martelle, Craig. Shadow Vanguard Complete Series Omnibus: Books 1-6 (p. 1292). LMBPN Publishing. Kindle Edition.