Edgar

Edgar Johnson is one of the main characters in Operation: Vanguard.

### Operation: Vanguard series

Edgar Johnson is an astrophysicist teaching at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Every ever since he can remember, he’s been fascinated with the stars, comets, planets, and every other celestial body in the universe.
Edgar was born on July 5th, in Salt Lake City, Utah. His father, Edgar Sr., was a famed local car engineer. His mother, Elizabeth, was a full-time hospital worker in the Salt Lake City Regional Medical Center. As he became a high schooler, his love for astronomy only grew.
When he was eighteen, he created a long distance telescope from his fathers scrap metal in the workshop. He observed the planets and the moon with his creation.
As time passed, he became a college graduate, graduating from the University of Iowa, taking classes in astrophysics. He also received a PhD and a degree in astrophysics as well.
For a year, Edgar would work at a bartender, where he met his best friend, Keith. He and Edgar were the best of friends, and they discussed astronomy matters.
Then, when the world changed, they debated joining the fight, but then they got the perfect opportunity. Keith was a doctor at the local healthcare institute in Massachussetts.
In the mail, they received totally randomly a message from the U.S. government recruiting them to the operation.
During the flight to Camp Solstice, a military camp I. Bulgaria,, Edgar feels anxious and wonders if these would be some of the last days of his life.
After they land, Edgar and Keith are greeted by General Green, a Navy sergeant who feeds them the info they need to start hiking to the suspected alien base. Along the way, they’re greeted by signs that read disturbing messages such as, “Turn Back!” And “Go Away!!” Keith comments on how suspicious they made the base look to outsiders. Soon, they come across their first alien. The alien fires at the,, but is soon overrun by the two young men, and killed. The alien carried a dog tag, and the duo discovered the alien’s name was Xad Aquis.
But not long after, they walk into a trap, and are captured by a net rigged with Vexus, a type of alien electricity strong enough to render someone unconscious from a few feet away if it has enough power.
Edgar wakes up in a prison cell, with an alien called Mr. Teasi who interrogates him. He demands where Keith is being held, and Mr. Teasi explains if Edgar cooperates, then Keith will be released.
Edgar now realizes that the aliens had been spying on him for years. Edgar picked up some pretty helpful engineering tips from his father, and now the aliens wanted it to make their new weapon, NightShadow.
Edgar falls asleep after Mr. Teasi left, and then he awoke to the sound of Keith’s voice outside his cell. He had the help of a rebel alien, who knew their way around the base. But part of the plan was for Edgar and Keith to gain access to King Artix’s office, where he kept algorithms and secret files. So the alien willingly lets another alien whisk the two men away to King Artix’s office, where the king plans to execute the two me. The engineering thing was only partially a lie; Keith was planned to be executed right away, but Edgar would be a test subject for the weapon.
After taken into custody be the king, two alien agents brought out a large can, filled with a substance the king called Jupiter’s Blood, the hottest substance known to man. As Edgar and Keith, and the fellow rebel alien, sadly had been captured and that part of the plan had been foiled, as the three were being lowered by straitjackets on hooks—a devious torture plan devised by King Artix himself—but at the last second a helicopter crashes through the walk of King Artix’s wall. The impact dealt no damage to the heli, and as the straitjackets were torn, the three of them jumped into the helicopter and escaped.
Now, the helicopter was inside the base carved into the mountain, and seeing as every wall except the outer were made of aluminum, the heli burst through them like jell-o. But now, every alien was alerted of their presence, and the helicopter was shot down. As Keith ordered the four of them to get into a helicopter—as they had crashed lightly into a hangar bay—and the four took off out of the open hangar entrance.
Three of the four helicopters escaped; the fourth however, was not so lucky. The alien that had busted them out of their cells had the tail of the helicopter caught in the rapidly closing hangar gates, and the heli crashed and exploded.
As the three helicopters landed at Camp Solstice, the new alien that had helped them was being recruited to the U.S. Air Force by General Green.
Just the , Edgar’s head felt like it could explode. The pain quickly vanished as his eyes turned a deathly shade of black. He took off in a helicopter, and headed*back*to King Artix’s secret base. Of course, Edgar was never working for the enemy, he had been hypnotized by Mr. Teasi in his cell, it just took a little bit for the hypnotic awareness to kick in.
Meanwhile, at Camp Solstice where plans were devised, Edgar was working his entire day to build the super weapon. He was sweating so much, he felt he could’ve filled a swimming pool. Now, he didn’t care, he just had to finish the weapon for his boss by hypnotism, King Artix.
Weeks passed, and Edgar was finally finished with the weapon. He supervised the test. Towards an open field, cows contento y munched on grass, unaware of anything that would happen next. As the weapon was charged at 100 %, Edgar watched as grass, trees, dirt and gory pieces of cow carcass erupted from the ground as the weapon was fired. Nothing was left except a gory wasteland in the once beautiful field.
A few more days passed, as Edgar was approaching his final days of his life, soon to be executed by the aliens. He sat in a cell as the hypnotism began to wear off. One day, as Mr. Teasi and King Artix hauled him off to be interrogated one last time. They asked him where the base was, and Edgar lied to them dutifully.
As they discovered the camp was empty, King Artix became very angry. He realized they must have the stolen algorithms, and that everybody evacuated. Out of pure rage and malice, King Artix fired the cannon without warning, and the camp obliterated. As the three of them returned, Edgar was forgotten about as King Artix regrouped with Mr. Teasi, and discussed the stolen algorithm.As Edgar wandered the empty base, he found Keith with a few rebel aliens stationed by a helicopter. The reunion was short, however, and they got moving quickly.
They quickly exited the abandoned base and found two rebel aliens, rechristened Jack and Fredrick, had been kept hostage being held by a rope above the obliterated Camp Solstice, which was coated with Jupiter’s Blood.
King Artix himself sat in a helicopter, with a knife in his hand, ready to cut the rope. Edgar acted quickly as a Keith jumped out of the heli heroically, and the pilot cut the engines, sending their helicopter plummeting, where the rebel aliens and Edgar were screaming, quite possibly the last moments of their lives.
But as quick as a flash, Jack and Fredrick somehow managed to grab the helicopter, and so did Keith as the helicopter sped into the distance, leaving King Artix howling with rage.
Edgar now lives a quiet, retired life in Massachussetts occasionally visiting Keith.

### CASE FILE series

Edgar will return in the upcoming book The Red Planet.