Karl Jeneralek

Major Karl Jeneralek (born 21st July, 2216) was a member of the Terra Firma Fleet, as well as a part of the legendary "Dragon Flight" - the crew of the eight ships which survived the massacre of Gambit-5.

Family
Karl grew up on a "floater colony" (a type of shanty town space station orbiting a more prosperous planet). Karl's father, Stanislav, was a self-made man - referring to himself as an "intermediary" - who made sure that his sons were well-educated and given the best start in life. Karl's mother, Olivia, died giving birth to Karl's younger brother, Luka. Luka had just completed his training and been assigned to Fleet HQ when Gambit-5 was attacked.

At the Academy
Karl enrolled in the Academy on January 1st, 2236, at the age of 19. He was described as an "average" cadet -  never eager to rise above the rest of his class, and he seemed quite content to coast through. He was given disciplinary warnings on a number of occasions for insubordination, relishing the attention the punishment would warrant him among his fellow cadets. Though his performance was average in most of his courses, his skill in unarmed combat was noted. He would have passed the course with distinction had he not been involved in a bar brawl on the eve of his exam. His conduct that night meant that he was in the academy holding cells on the morning of his final test. During the Trailbreaker simulation, his survival rate was 51%. His reckless style of command resulted in the deaths of nearly half his “crew”, but he justified it as acceptable losses to accomplish his goal. Karl was recommended for marine corp. He graduated in late 2238.

Fleet Career
Upon graduation, he was assigned to Tamor station, a fuel refinery on the moon Logran-3 in the Belarus Nebula, as part of the marine contingent that was stationed there as protection. After three months, he had already proven himself to be a skilled soldier, rescuing many of his squadron whilst under heavy fire. Seven months into his deployment, he earned the field rank of sergeant after keeping a group of pirates at bay under heavy fire and, in the process, preventing them from detonating the reserve tanks which would have blown out half of the moon. His recklessness seemed to have abated somewhat, now only putting himself in harms way as opposed to the rest of his squad. This was noted in his fleet record and Karl was soon given command of his own squad. He and his squad were transferred to the Ranger-class vessel “Dredger” and served meritoriously in the Geigeian conflict, Karl himself taking command of the ship when its captain was killed, and enabling them to escape. He was given a field promotion to Captain, assigned permanently to the “Dredger” and ordered to patrol the borders. In 2243 the Ranger classes were taken out of service, and Karl, now a Major, was given command of one of the new Valhalla class cruisers, the 'Anubis'.