Ricky Wegener
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==Personal History== | ==Personal History== | ||
| + | The year 1918 on Earth was full of notable events. It was the year World War I ended. The US "Post Office Department" began the 3rd regular airmail service in the world. The little town of Codell, Kansas, in the US was hit by a tornado for the third year in a row. The Spanish Flu killed over 30 million people in six months, almost twice as many that had died in WWI. And in Bremen, Germany, an El-Aurian was born. This, in itself, was an oddity for Earth but El-Aurians didn't vary in physiology from Humans except for an exceptionally long life, assuming they kept themselves safe. | ||
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| + | Gunter and Imandra Wegener, Rick's parents, had settled on Earth ten years prior, in 1908, after giving up on the freighter business. They had made quite a living for themselves and, as luck would have it, were able to trade their ship, cargo and what money they had for gold which could be used on their new home planet. They commandeered a small vessel, large enough to hold their cargo of gold and what few momentos that they kept from their travels, and scouted out some places on Earth. They settled on the small town of Bremen in what was called Germany. It wasn't an enormous place and appealed to them as a community. Locating a cave on the edge of town that was big enough to hide their shuttle, they hid it there and went about purchasing the land around it, not realizing that the amount of gold they'd brought with them made them insanely wealthy, according to Earth standards. | ||
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| + | The land surrounding the cave was sizeable and came with a large manor house, stables and a small guest cottage. It had been left empty for twelve years because the last owner had died with no children or relatives to take it over. With some time and effort, Gunter and Imandra fixed it up and were living quite luxuriously. They were accepted into the local aristocracy, and even became close to Germany's Chancellory, once word spread about how much money they were supposed to have had and became quite popular with the locals because of the balls they threw for all, not just the privileged. | ||
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| + | Years later, on July 28th, 1918, just prior to the end of World War I, Richard Strauß Wegener was born. He was a large child, so much so that Gunter was forced to retrieve some equipment from their hidden shuttle to help her birth the child without causing complications. | ||
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| + | Rick grew up with the finest education of Earth's history and, in private, El-Aurian history and that of the universe. He learned everything that his parents could teach him about space travel, engineering and everything that he would need to return to the stars if they deemed it necessary--which they never did. Because of this he excelled well above the other children his age in his schooling. He was also well thought of by his instructors. Along with education he was taught how to fight with swords, ride horses, archery and the use of firearms. | ||
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| + | When word of war was in the wind, Gunter decided that leaving the country was in the family's best interest. He did not agree with the way things had been going, and despised Hitler and the Nazi party. In January of 1939 the Wegener's packed their things and moved to Switzerland, settling in the Canton of Schaffhausen in the municipality of Neuhausen am Rheinfall. While Switzerland remained neutral during WWII, Rick was of the age (21) that he could be conscripted to their military, like all other men between the ages of 20 to 30 years of age. The Wegener’s did not become Swiss citizens but Rick felt it was the least he could do to repay the kindness of the Swiss government for allowing his family to leave the immediate clutches of Nazi Germany. And while not technically at war with anyone, the Swiss were required to take action against Nazi military planes violating their airspace as well as suffering a bombing raid by US Army Air Force planes in the Canton of Schaffhausen that had accidentally strayed from Germany into neutral Switzerland in 1944. | ||
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| + | Once the war ended, Gunter decided to become a silent partner in the company Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft, commonly referred to as SIG. The company was known for weaponry, packaging and railway cars. Rick started working at SIG in the weapons design division. He quickly tired of the work and resigned, stating that he wanted to move back to his family home in Bremen. His parents were hesitant since they now lived in Switzerland and intended to remain there. He argued, however, that he held doctoral degrees in engineering and physics, a baccalaureate degree in psychology and was highly educated in many other areas. He could speak German, Swiss, English and French, which, when added to his education, meant to him that he could do almost anything. In 1950 he returned to Germany and the large family home that he’d been forced to leave eleven years prior. | ||
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| + | Because of the changes to Germany after WWII, many things had changed in Bremen. It was now part of West Germany, sided with the Allies of WWII. Because of his family’s ‘fame’ when they still resided in Bremen before the war, Rick was contacted quickly by several members of the new leadership in the country, including the new Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, whom his father had known many years ago when Adenauer was the Mayor of Cologne. Because of Rick’s Swiss military background, and his education, he was included in talks of West German rearmament and the potential for a new military defense force, in cooperation with NATO. After many years of debates and meetings on the topic, on the 12th of November in 1955, the Bundeswehr, or the Federal Defence Force, was created. In appreciation of his efforts to help bring it to fruition, Rick was made a Oberstleutnant im Generalstabsdienst, or Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff. | ||
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| + | His duties were mainly desk-oriented but he oversaw the creation of the conscription of all men aged 18 through 45 for military service in 1956. He was then promoted to Oberst (Colonel) and placed in charge of training doctrine for new recruits. He spent many months with U.S., British and French military training commands and modified many of the training requirements of the German military, allowing them to become more up-to-date and on par with the other military forces of the world, despite only being a military force that was defensive in nature. However, in 1964, after eight years in that position, he retired from the military and settled down on his family’s estate. Because of his service with the creation of the military, and reforming its training of new recruits, he was given a final rank of Brigadegeneral (Brigadier General) and allowed full retirement honors. | ||
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| + | He was now forty-six years of age. The problem was that because of his El-Aurian heritage, he still looked very much like he was twenty. He decided to become a bit of a hermit at the estate and rarely left the grounds, which were massive enough that he could go riding or hunting without seeing any neighbors. But he did have staff on hand that helped with the estate who saw him regularly. He wasn’t sure how to deal with the problem of not aging when it came to his staff. After a visit to his parents’ shuttle, still in the cave where it had been since they’d arrived on Earth, he found his salvation. The medical equipment they had stored would allow him to alter his appearance slightly to show aging, a process that was reversible. He would, essentially, have to become old and then create false paperwork for a new identity for himself. He could become anyone. Someone related to the Richard Strauß Wegener that he was now or just someone completely different. Either way he’d have to leave all of his possessions to his new identity in his will. | ||
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| + | So, over the next twenty years he slowly aged himself, now not having to be as much of a hermit and being able to go out into public. He became known throughout the community as a very sociable man. He kept the tradition of throwing large gala events on his property, just as his parents did, and they eventually became fund raisers for orphans or the homeless organizations in the city. At the young (for an El-Aurian) age of 67, Rick decided it was time that he make the big change. He took a trip to Switzerland on undisclosed business, as far as his employees knew, but he was there to see his parents who had already faked their own deaths. While there he forged a letter from a local Swiss doctor’s office that was sent to his estate in Germany, informing them of his death from a heart attack. | ||
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| + | He returned to Germany two months later. It was now June of 1986. He looked like himself again but had changed his normal hair color to light blond and his eyes to green. His name was now Henrick Wolfgang Wegener, an illegitimate son of the late Richard Strauß Wegener, who had come to Switzerland to reconcile with him. The story was that Rick and Henrick had spent some time together and, after enjoying a play at a local theater, the elder Wegener had suffered a massive heart attack. With his own copy of the last will and testament, birth records identifying his father as Rick and the fact that he was the spitting image of his “father”, no one contested his right to take over the estate and all of the bank accounts. | ||
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| + | Up until the beginnings of World War III, Rick had only needed to change his identity once more. However, when the rumblings of the war started Rick thought it best to leave the planet with his parents. In 2048, after changing their fortune to gold, which was still a useful form of currency in the galaxy, the packed a few special items into their shuttle and left Earth behind. From a position close to the moon, the three watched silently, and wept, as the beings that they’d come to know and love on the planet destroyed themselves. They couldn’t stand to continue watching knowing what was happening below them and set out for a nearby planet on par with their current technological advances: Delta IV. | ||
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| + | While there, Gunter and Imandra found a freighter and purchased it, hoping to resurrect their shipping business. Rick, however, became quite despondent over the fate of those that he left behind on Earth. He barely ate, seemingly never slept and kept mostly to himself in a small apartment that he purchased. Gunter hoped to bring him out of his doldrums with the purchase of a second freighter that he hoped Rick would captain, but he refused. In 2051, three years after they arrived on Delta IV, Gunter and Imandra left Rick behind with only the ship that they arrived in and his share of their fortune. | ||
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| + | It was here where Rick happened to chance upon a woman that actually piqued his interest. She was a Deltan named Narin whom he had met off and on in a local restaurant. What caught his attention was the amount of interest that she showed in him. As an El-Aurian, and a much more advanced race than humans of the time, Rick was immune to the effects of the Deltan race and, due to this fact, had never succumbed to their charms. Having never met an El-Aurian, Narin was quite interested in who he was, where he came from and wanted to hear the stories of his people. Over the period of two weeks, Rick and Narin met regularly just to talk about the El-Aurians for Narin’s benefit, and Rick learned quite a bit about the history of the Deltans. They actually began to form a true relationship and eventually became lovers. The two were inseparable and began living together and, after a year of living together, Rick asked Narin to be his wife. | ||
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| + | One month after their ceremony Rick purchased the restaurant where they had first met renaming it Passions. They became quite successful in the business due to serving not only Deltan fare but off-world dishes, many of them based on Earth dishes that Rick had enjoyed while there. But it all came to an abrupt end when Narin, who had gone on a run to nearby planets for different ingredients when her shuttle was destroyed by an unknown race that had been in the area. A brief skirmish had occurred between two warring factions and Narin had inadvertently gotten too close and was fired upon. Upon hearing the news of her death Rick closed the restaurant, packed his belongings and left Delta IV. | ||
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| + | He roamed the stars for three months with no destination in mind and wanting nothing to do with anyone. As luck would have it he found himself back in the Sol Sector near Earth. Having had enjoyed the beginning of his life there he took immediate interest in their current state, hoping that they had rebuilt themselves after the war. What he found were scattered groups all over the planet living with what they could cobble together. | ||
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| + | ...more to come... | ||
