Nigel Aldershot - If the Jackboot fits

So now that we're done with my profile on ol' Leonard (Or 'character assassination' as one guy who must be hate-listening to this infocast put it) I thought 'hey we need some fair and balanced coverage here' and that I should look at some of those around him. And who should fall under the microscope this time than his supposed but not actually arch-rival, Nigel Aldershot. And I know you're all probably going 'who' and wondering what this has to do with anything, but bear with me.

The thing about Aldershot is that he wasn't standing at the front. For most of his career, he was a backroom player, one who had his own web of influence. However, he also had that basic need to be the top banana we see so often in one of these things. At the same time, he also doesn't get too far into the deep crazy either; so you're not going to hear anything about the Gloval clone conspiracy or the SDF-2 being on the moon or the like in this one. Well, mostly.

Anyway. Nigel Aldershot was born circa 1960. He came from a well-off military family, had a top-tier university education, signed up, went straight to officer school and so on. He saw considerable action during the Global Civil War as an infantry officer, eventually earning himself a Combat Infantry Star while also losing an arm and a leg. Rather than being invalidated out, he leaned on his experience (and no doubt his contacts) to land a new role in intelligence for the Western Alliance. There he became a part of the Russo-Hayes machine, falling neatly into the role of intelligence analyst while also growing what I have to admit is an impressive moustache.

The Visitor arrives, war is over, UEG is formed with Russo and Hayes placing themselves at the top of the pyramid. Aldershot becomes a part of their new global intelligence and security machine, where he's got the job of helping to ensure that we were all one big happy world. Among other things he was up to during that decade, he was responsible for handling matters related to the Anti-Unification League. Now I know there are those who claim that Edwards and/or Leonard were in on the AUL, and there is some evidence to support that, and we will get to that one day. On the other hand, there's those that claim that Russo and Hayes may have deliberately exaggerated or even the AUL to give themselves even more sweeping powers. And if that was the case – and I wouldn't rule it out either – then Aldershot would have been a part of that game.

Come 2009 and he's been assigned to the SDF-1 as a part of the ship's intelligence analysis division; a move that was predicated on the vessel likely being the first to engage with the enemy and gather information on them in the process. While there he fell in with Maistroff and his cronies in their shared goals of riding on Gloval's coat-tails while rubbishing anything that disagreed with his preconceptions. In what might be one of the great intelligence failures of history, he dismissed Lisa Hayes' claim that the Zentraedi possessed over four million ships, claiming it to be 'preposterous'. And we know how that turned out.

Following the Rain of Death, Aldershot is left as one of the few people in UEG intel still alive, which basically sees him fall into power. He became one of the group who advised Gloval and then Hayes and Hunter along with Maistroff and the rest of his bunch. At the same time, he was doing what he could to build up his own web of influence under the guise of intelligence operations. This included bringing in one of the other survivors of the old UEG intel community, being our good pal, T.R. Edwards. Ol' Nige ensured that Edwards would have a place at the table while also vouching for him, no doubt in exchange for T.R. dishing all the dirt on those around him. So thanks a heap for that.

By 2020, Aldershot is more or less the last survivor of his little cabal, with the others having suffered various career-ending scandals, 'voluntarily' retired, been pushed aside and so on. So while Maistroff gets to go write his memoirs (did anyone ever read his book? Be honest) and smoke himself to death, Aldershot gets a key role in the reorganisation of the UEDF. He's given charge of a low-key, discrete intelligence and enforcement operation that you might have heard of called the Global Military Police. I imagine that on paper he got the position due to his position because of his intelligence experience, but in reality because somebody wanted a counter-balance to Leonard. Maybe it was Edwards, maybe it was Lisa Hayes and Rick Hunter in a rare moment of political acumen. I could go either way on that one.

As the leader of the GMP, Aldershot was the proverbial spider in the web, wielding considerable power and influence from the shadows. However, it also seems that he was well-liked by those below him. That could have been a personal thing or it could have been because he was very much willing to give them broad authority and discretionary powers. You know how it goes, give the worst people what they want and they will thank you for it while they're abusing that power.

However, he and Leonard didn't like each other. No, wait, they hated each other. That's a better way to put it. And as covered in part two of the Beatification, the pair of them clearly wanted to be rid of each other, but couldn't make a move likely for risk of triggering a mutual self-destruction of their careers through all the dirty secrets that would inevitably come to light. It was only after the Giles Academy Incident saw Leonard take a public drubbing that Aldershot really began to put his plans in motion. He gathered allies, including trying to recruit Rolf Emerson to his team or, at least, sideline him from siding with Leonard.

Finally in 2028 he made his move, only to have his coup fail on the launchpad. Many of those that Aldershot expected to have his back got cold feet at the last minute, including Monument City regional commander, Colonel Alan Fredricks. Aldershot was forced to back down, but he still kept his job, probably because he had enough accumulated dirt to bury anyone who tried to remove him. Instead he retreated into the shadows, leaving Leonard more or less unopposed in the big seat. Again, you have to wonder if Aldershot would have done a better job, but then you have to ask yourself if you really wanted the GMP to have unlimited power. Yeah, its like that.

(And while one GMP officer did follow through on his own coup, they did such with ASC help and might have been an alien clone anyway. So, you know)

As a result, Aldershot's role in the Second Robotech War was basically the same as that he played in the first; intel analysis and rubbishing anything that didn't kotow to the official line. He resurfaced after the war where he basically fell into power due to being the last man left alive. With the Southern Cross leaderless and the UEG already falling apart, Aldershot's immediate reaction was to give the GMP (and thus himself) broad sweeping powers to maintain order at the point of the gun. Again, making you wonder if this was the better outcome.

Self-appointed UEG chair Bath Costanza didn't think so, and thus elevated General Vicenza to acting commander of the Southern Cross. A know-nothing rear echelon officer, Vicenza's only real qualification was being alive, unlike most of the rest of the Southern Cross' leadership. Aldershot didn't seem to have any dirt on Vicenza, possibly because he was such a non-entity, which meant that the pair of them spent the next six months jockeying with each other as the world fell apart.

To Aldershot's credit, he was one of the few who were willing to support Wolfe during the Pinnacle Base Summit, even while Vicenza as among his detractors. Over the course of the next couple of months, Nigel began stashing men and mecha against a possible Invid Invasion. That didn't stop him from engaging in his own power plays, which included trying to force Vicenza to step down and dissolve the ASC. Nor did it stop him from trying to retake Brasilia to make an example of the Stone Men in the last days before the invasion.

We don't have a clear answer as to what happened to Aldershot. It's generally assumed that he was killed in the fall of Pinnacle Base during the Invasion, although we'll likely never know for sure. Given that command of the GMP fell to an officer who had only just turned twenty-one at the time of the invasion (or not given the claims about 'Lana Isavia' and all that comes with them) it's fair to say that whatever happened to him, he was in no position to take command afterwards.

Of course, a part of me wonders how ol' Nige would have enjoyed living during the occupation. Not so fun when the jackboot is on the other foot.

So until the next time I character assassinate – I mean profile – someone, find your own truths and keep it weird.