Meridius Soldato

I: HISTORY
Weapons designer, head of the Olympus Corporation, and commander of the Olympus Vanguard. Meridius Soldato was born on Adrastea, a moon of Jupiter, in the years before the completion of the Century Plan and the Rigellian War. Born in the time before genetic engineering of colonial settlers became the rule, Soldato contracted the condition known as Jovian Syndrome--that is, his body was conditioned to the Jovian system's gravitational stresses, and in lower gravities, his bones and tissue would degenerate.

However, Soldato was a child prodigy, and demonstrated an early aptitude for physics and cybernetics. Driven by the constant pain her suffered, he completed an early version of his G-Suit--a special armor that provided a stable gravitational field around his body that protected him from deterioration. He would gradually refine the G-Suit over the years, but the initial versions were enough to provide him a range of motion and a chance for greatness.

Soldato applied and was accepted to the Rhean University, graduating with the highest honors and doctorates in five separate disciplines. Before he could pursue any private ambitions, Earth and Rigellia went to war, and Soldato applied for an officer's commission. He was instead enlisted by the UEF into a think tank, charged with surmounting the Rigellian's technological advantages in space combat. His think tank's primary achievement was the development of the crystal pulse laser, which would turn the tide of the repeated fleet engagements in the UEF's favor.

But despite relative shifts in advantage, the war was ultimately a stalemate, and was ended by the intervention of a third party--the Chroan. Soldato proved instrumental in analyzing this new threat and devising a way to shut the marauding machine race permanently.

While this brought him acclaim, Soldato was privately focused on proving himself and grew more ambitious. Using his newfound fame, Soldato was taken to the seat of the Rigellian Empire and honored with the commission Warknight--an honorary title given to distinguished soldiers of the Empire--the first and only non-Rigellian to be so honored. Earth, recognizing the value of good public relations, conferred upon Soldato the rank of Captain, and the two governments arranged for Soldato to work with the Empire's premiere arms manufacturer, the Vulcanus Company.

Professionally, Soldato proved himself a quick study, able to analyze and improve upon standard weapon designs and already demonstrating new ideas in starfighter design. Personally, his tenure at the Vulcanus company would end under a cloud, as his lover, Gala Minos (daughter of the Vulcanus Company's CEO) would be found in his bed--dead of a massive heart attack when she attempted to make love to Soldato in his special heavy-gravity room.

While his commissions remained intact, Soldato was then expelled from Rigellia in an effort to prevent a scandal. The UEF then contracted Soldato for a number of improved weapon systems to upgrade their spacefleet in the wake of their postwar colononizaton effort.

It was from this initial contract that Soldato built the foundation for the Olympus Company. Soon, his simple contract had grown to providing materiel for 60% of the entire UEF, and from his secret skunk works labs at Zwei Base, he began work on the next generation of Earth starfighters.

He would also begin recruiting men and women for what was officially the private security force for the Olympus Corporation. Selecting the best and brightest (and most often men and women who were native to Earth colonies) and offering them more opportunities for rapid advancement, these men and women, whose loyalty to Soldato soon eclipsed their loyalty to Earth. . .these men and women formed the backbone of the Olympus Vanguard.

It was at Zwei Base that Soldato would first encounter Kienan Ademetria. During an official fire test of a number of prototype starfighters Soldato had designed, Kienan Ademetria and his allies would infiltrate his base and steal three of his prototypes--two Angelfish gunships and the Nighthawk stealth fighter. Soldato would pursue Ademetria in his prototype Gryphon heavy assault ship, but elected to break off the attack and let Kienan go.

Soldato was able to use the incident to persuade the UEF to purchase his Centaur starfighter, and also persuaded them to add variable speed beam cannon technologies to their capital ships. Over the next few years, the Centaur would become Earth's dominant model of starfighter and Olympus Vanguard advisors would be posted on all capital ships, giving Soldato an ever-growing influence in the design, implementation, and use of his technology.

A number of years later, Soldato would develop the Olympus Vanguard's first capital ship, the Lancer cruiser. The design and construction of this ship was soon moved to the newer Elysium Shipyards, a massive new facility that provided Soldato with an autonomous base of operations for himself and the Vanguard.

It was at Elysium he would meet and fall in love with the woman known as Silhouette. Silhouette intended to commission the Olympus company for the construction of a capital ship to function as a mobile base of operations for her White Dragon organization.

However, while he would ultimately build the White Angel (and Silhouette's personal Umbra starfighter) he would ultimately enlist her in his plan to search out Kienan Ademetria, for what purpose, he refused to reveal. Moreover, he would make himself an enemy of the Rigellian agent Count Heinrich Straeger, who demanded Soldato turn over Silhouette to him for questioning. Soldato provoked Straeger into a battle, only to embarrass the Count before the Rigellian Imperial Forces.

Soldato continues to expand the power and influence of the Olympus Vanguard, and continues to keep tabs on Kienan Ademetria. What his ultimate purpose for the assassin is has yet to be revealed.

The story is ongoing.

II: FIGHTING STYLE
Due to Soldato's Jovian Syndrome and the G-Suit he must wear outside of heavy-gravity environments, he generally avoids fighting, save behind the controls of a starfighter. When this proves impossible, Soldato uses the enhanced strength the G-Suit proves him, coupled with his knowledge of precision striking, to end battles quickly.

He possesses impressive swordsmanship skills, favouring defensive fighting styles that wait for openings, then finish the battle with precise and accurate attacks.

III: WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT
Outside of equivalent gravity to his home in the Jovian system, Soldato must wear the G-Suit, which uses bio-mechanical simulated musculature and advanced force-field technology to create a stable gravitic envelope around his body which keeps his bodily tissues from disintegrating. A by-product of the suit is that it makes Soldato approximately four times as strong as the average human, and his external force field generator provides him sufficient protection to survive most conventional heavy weapons fire for a few minutes.

Soldato favors a titanium carbide saber; similar to the type used by Rigellian command officers. The saber is light but extremely durable, and its handle (redesigned by Soldato himself) has been ergonomically altered to allow for a vast range of counter-parry moves.

Soldato is also proficient with a number of weapons and starfighters, both of his design and otherwise. His piloting skill is considered well above average and he has, in the course of the few sorties he has flown with the Vanguard, racked up an impressive number of kills.