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An enterprising and career-minded Navy captain is this
week's first COTW. Between his ambition and callous
attitude, he's an ideal antagonist without actually being on
the other side...
Captain Michael Xavier Ryan, USN; ambitious officer
(c) copyright 2000 Volker Bach
Total Points: 120 Points
Age 46; 5'10"; 152 pounds; a rangy, wide-shouldered Irishman
with greying red hair, and blue eyes.
ST 11 [10] - thrust 1d-1, swing 1d+1
DX 12 [20] - basic speed 5.75, move 5, dodge 5
parry
(knife) 5
IQ 12 [20]
HT 11 [10]
WL 12 [-]
ADVANTAGES: Decoration (Bronze Star with "V", +1 Reputation)
[5]; Fit [5]; Military Rank 6 (Captain, USN)
[30]; Status 2* [0].
*free from Military Rank
DISADVANTAGES: Fanatic (Patriotism) [-10];
Intolerance ('big ship slackers') [-5]; Intolerance
('Peaceniks') [-5]; Obsession (Get My Flag)
[-5]; Reputation -2 (prepared to sacrifice his men
for his career, among Pacific Fleet) [-5];
Workaholic [-5].
QUIRKS: Fears retirement; Devout Catholic; Voices
deliberately provocative hawkish opinions; Tolerant of
'non-regulation types'. [-4]
SKILLS: Administration-13 [4]; Area Knowledge (West
Pacific)-12 [1]; Armory/TL7 (Handguns)-11
[1]; Brawling-11 [.5]; Diplomacy-12
[4]; Driving (Automobile)-11 [1];
Electronics Operation/TL7 (Communications)-12 [1];
Electronics Operations/TL7 (Sensors)-12 [1]; First
Aid/TL7-11 [.5]; Gunner/TL7 (Machine Gun)-13*
[1]; Gunner/TL7 (Guided Missile)-12* [.5];
Guns/TL7 (Light Automatic)-13* [.5]; Guns/TL7
(Pistol)-14* [1]; Knife-10 [.5]; Law
(Admiralty)-10 [1]; Leadership-13 [4];
Navigation-11 [2] Politics-12 [2];
Powerboat-12 [2]; Sailor/TL7-12 [2];
Savoir-Faire (Military)-14 [4]; Seamanship/TL7-13
[2]; Shiphandling/TL7-13 [6]; Strategy
(Naval)-13 [6]; Survival (Island/Beach)-10
[.5]; Swimming-12 [1]; Tactics-13
[6]; Wrestling-10 [.5].
*includes +2 from IQ 12
LANGUAGES: English (native)-12 [0]; Spanish-10
[.5]; Tagalog-9 [.5]; Mandarin Chinese-10
[1]; Latin-10 [.5].
EQUIPMENT
Captain Ryan usually wears undress khakis, immaculately
pressed and creased. Unless prohibited by regulations he
will carry a regulation M9 officers' sidearm, loaded, and a
distinctly non-regulation combat knife. He is fairly
careless about wearing his captains' insignia, but will
always sport his ribbons and the 'small craft' badge. If
there is any chance of his going into actual combat he will
use kevlar body armor, a PSGT helmet and whatever longarm
his troops carry. He will also make every effort to avoid
getting entangled in firefights - his job is tactical
control, not shooting up people.
BIOGRAPHY
Michael Xavier Ryan was born in 1964 to Connor Ryan, an
Irish-American construction worker, and his wife Siobhan.
Though his parents were from one of New York's worst inner
city districts they had achieved modest prosperity, and
young Michael Xavier grew up in a solidly Irish, largely
blue-collar suburb. His father invested heavily in the boy's
future, sending him to an expensive private boarding school
run by Jesuits. Between the firm scholastic discipline and
fierce athletic competition of his school and the rousing
tales of his cousin Will, a Navy Reserve officer having
served in Vietnam, the boy became determined that the
military life was for him.
After graduating, Michael applied for admission to Annapolis
and was accepted, much to the chagrin of his father who had
hoped his son would go to 'proper College'. His chosen
specialty was small craft and after graduating well inside
the top third of his class he even entertained hopes of
joining the SEALs, though these were quickly dashed. He
served with energy and dedication, if without incident, on
various ships of the 7th Fleet. His chance to grasp for
greatness came in the Gulf War when, as a Lieutenant in
command of a fast patrol boat, he earned a Bronze Star for
valor under circumstances that are still classified. After
this he quickly gained promotion to Lieutenant Commander and
eventually to Commander. After a short stint commanding the
'mothership' of his unit he was packed off to Washington to
navigate a Pentagon desk in International Liaisons, over his
vocal protest. To all appearances, Michael Xavier Ryan's
active career was over.
In spite of his angry protestations Commander Ryan was not
at all out of his depth in the aisles of the Pentagon. He
quickly learned the way of the bureaucracy, always having
been a thorough and methodical man, and entertained hopes of
serving with one of the Chiefs of Staff. His careful
campaign of ingratiating himself with said Admiral was
interrupted by the revelation that the US Navy intended to
set up a Joint Piracy Suppression Squadron with the
Philippines, Malaysia and Australia in the South China Sea.
It was the protection and well-wishing of several
influential figures in the Pentagon more than his own
qualifications (though there can not be too many small-craft
qualified officers who speak both Tagalog and Mandarin, a
legacy of Ryan's previous service in these waters) that
eventually secured him the post. He was promoted to Captain
and sent off to command the unit.
Captain Ryan, ambitious as ever, now orchestrates his
(probably doomed) campaign to secure his flag alternating
between an office in Manila and his unit's home base on
Palawan. The actual command is small for an O-6, just a
handful of fast patrol boats and a few cutters with Marines,
but international sensitivities, and the fact that units of
the involved nations' coast guards and naval aviation will
come under it in envisioned combined operations, dictated
that a captain be appointed to it. So far, in spite of some
ambitious (less charitable observers might say rash) strikes
against probable pirates, the unit's success story has been
a decidedly mixed bag. Several pirate vessels destroyed and
a number of leaders captured will not, in the eyes of
Washington, make up for the increasingly tense relations
with China over the activities of the squadron. Captain Ryan
is increasingly ready to take risks to end his tenure with
the kind of flourish that makes mere men into admirals. Some
of his understandably disgruntled subordinates have taken to
referring to these missions as 'Saving Ryan's Privates'.
ENCOUNTERED
Captain Ryan comes across as a tough, capable and more than
slightly gung-ho officer. He is really much more thoughtful
and knowledgeable than this hawkish facade lets on, but
remains at heart a fierce patriot of the 'right or wrong, my
country' school. Scuttlebutt has it that he would not be
entirely unhappy to go to war with China. His superiors know
him to be prompt and efficient, ready to hand with
information and good at getting results. His subordinates
find him demanding, impatient with their problems, expecting
results but often interfering with the process of getting
them. He is happy to deviate from 'the book' but insists it
be done his way.
In any longer acquaintance people will notice an uncommon
coldness about Captain Ryan. Unlike most officers he does
not care very much about his men, his comrades, or even his
service. His patriotic credentials are impeccable, but
beyond these he cares only for his career. This does not
endear him to most of his brother officers, and he takes
good care not to let it be too obvious with any of his
superiors.
CANONICALITY
Michael Xavier Ryan is fully canonical. His Combat Skills
have been subject to Skill Degradation as outlined in
p.SO74, something he knows but refuses to acknowledge. In a
pinch he could well behave as though his DX and HT were one
higher and his Combat Skills upped by one or two levels.
WHAT IF?
As written he is intended for a low-cinematic Special Ops or
otherwise high-powered military campaign based on the
premise that the piracy problem in Southeast Asia will get
much worse, but every military organisation organised along
modern lines knows the many incarnations of Michael Xavier
Ryan. He is the career hawk who plays chess with living
pieces, and occasionally roulette with the lives of his men,
the brass hat who runs big risks, f**ks up and gets people
killed. With his Skills adapted to TL5, and a few different
languages, he'd make a good candidate for a far-flung
outpost of the Victorian Royal Navy. During the Cold War, a
TL7 variant could cause all kinds of trouble in Africa or
the West Pacific. With more adaptations many traditional
sci-fi settings could adopt Ryan as an ambitious and
unscrupulous fighter wing or Deep Space outpost commander.
ADVENTURE SEEDS
Treasure Island: Reconnaissance, intelligence work and some
lucky guesses have localised a pirate supply base on an
island far out at the border of Chinese-claimed waters. This
has allowed them to evade the patrols from Philippine bases.
Ryan wants it taken out. Of course an airborne landing is
out of the question, as is an open naval maneuver - the
Chinese would notice and, at the very least, object. But as
luck would have it a storm front is moving up, and a small
patrol boat just might be able to slip in under the cover of
bad weather and land a small commando force. All the crew
would have to do is navigate the South China Sea in a storm,
land at night on an unknown coast, defeat armed opposition
in unknown numbers, destroy stocks of food, fuel and
ammunition, deal somehow with their prisoners and slip out
again undetected by the Chinese navy. Good luck!
...Et Dona Ferentes: A group of paramilitaries has offered
to guide a strike team to the hideout of a notorious pirate
leader. In exchange they ask no more than a few assault
rifles, grenade launchers, hand grenades, kevlar vests and
other odds and ends the US Navy might be able to spare. The
price is aid, and the team - composed largely of PCs - sets
out guided by their newfound friends. But things are
different from what they had described. Rather than popular
support they find fear and hatred, as the paramilitaries
look upon the US troops largely as added muscle to
intimidate locals. Communication is difficult, since they
only almost speak the dialect. Food and gear begins
disappearing. When confronted, the guides will admit that
the don't know the location of the pirate hideout. In fact
they lured the US troops here to provoke an incident with
local Muslim insurgents, and the rebels have risen to the
bait. The way home will become... interesting.
Not Counting Spoilage: It was a daring, meticulously planned
and flawlessly executed coup - unfortunately, the bad guys
pulled it off. As of yesterday evening, twenty crates of
grenade launchers, LAWs, Stingers and high-tech landmines
are missing from the stores under Ryan's command. Of course
he could just report it through channels, but that would
most likely end his career. So instead he has engineered a
two-day administrative delay and called in every favor he is
owed by local law enforcement and the intelligence
community. Now a group of hand-picked men go out into the
urban jungle of Manila to recover their toys and once again
save their commanders arse. You have 48 hours...
- written by Volker Bach
(volker_bach@public.uni-hamburg.de)
- editted and formatted by andi jones
(andi@angelwerks.com)
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