Jonas Kagen
| USS Challenger | ||
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 LOST | ||
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Jonas Mathew Kagen is a Marine on board the USS Challenger.
SFMC 2nd Lieutenant
- Age: 23
- Species: Human
- Gender: Male
- Eyes: Blue
- Hair: Black
- Ht: 6 feet
- Place of Birth: Sparta Freehold, Planet Marathon
- Family
- Father: Unknown
- Mother: Unknown
- Siblings: Jacob (brother)
- Spouse: None
- Children: None
Personal History
Marathon, a planet wracked by political conflict and war almost since the day it was settled 300 years ago, is not a member of the United Federation of Planets, even though it is physically within the Federations boundaries.
The Federation ruling council refuses to even allow the Marathons to submit an application for membership until they have had 10 years without a violent coup or war between factions. As this decision was made over a century ago and there has yet to be a month on the planet when one faction is not in conflict with another, membership into the UFOP is a pipe dream.
Jonas and his fraternal twin Jacob were born in the Spartan Freehold, an island off the southern coast of the planet's largest continent. If there is one phrase that could describe the Spartans it is "Organized Chaos".
The people of this island have consistently fought against any and all programs to unite the planet and cease the bloody warfare. They have fought these measures politically and with force, allying with one faction for a few years and then turning against their allies. As such they are the only faction on the planet that has not only been at war with another for their entire history, but has had all the other factions as both allies and enemies over time. The result of these policies is that they are hated by everyone else on the planet and are the planet's best fighters.
Jonas has never known who his parents are as for the last century all Spartan children are taken from their mothers and raised by the State, in the form of collective "platoons". In these platoons the Spartan children are watched and graded, then at the age of 10 shifted to other areas where their manifest abilities are groomed for the benefit of the State. Some are sent to be politicians, others engineers, and so on.
Jonas was separated from his brother at this point. Jacob went to the Political group while Jonas was sent to be a soldier.
At this he excelled. Jonas was involved with both front line and guerilla warfare and from the age of 14 until 17 rose steadily within the Spartan military. It didn't take long, however, for Jonas to realize that the society he'd been raised in was stagnant and it was only a matter of time until they were either defeated by a coalition of other Marathon factions, or blockaded and rendered irrelevant to the rest of the planet. As well he came to realize that he'd been fighting against (and in many cases killing) those who were fighting not to preserve their own way of life against all odds (as the Spartans were) but people who wanted the wars to end and peace to come to the planet and all its people, including the Spartans. He was too smart to say any of this aloud and despaired that his life would be one of fighting for ideals he no longer agreed with.
When he was eighteen he was present when a political delegation from the UFOP landed. He found himself drawn into conversations with a scientist named Natalie Combs, and after a few weeks decided she was his way out.
He spoke to her and she in turn to the leader of the expedition, and it was agreed they would take him when they left. As Marathon was an independent world there was no bar to this as he was a volunteer. He was, however, branded a traitor to his people and forbidden to ever return to Sparta on pain of death. His brother, now a power in the Spartan parliament, approved a price placed on his head.
Jonas left with the expedition, and with Dr. Combs as his sponsor entered Starfleet Academy. Jonas was a middle of the road student as he had much practical knowledge but little book learning. He excelled at the hands on subjects (Tactical, Security, team and individual sports) and was good at, if not brilliant, in engineering. His counseling training was miserable as he was raised to be fiercely independent and distrustful of all but his fellow Spartan soldiers. As such he has little tolerance for weakness (either in others or himself) and outright contempt for anyone who doesn't give all they have on whatever their doing. Still, he knows these are character flaws and tries to be more understanding of others.
Jonas Kagen is an accomplished soldier and as such is an expert in weaponry from small arms to starship systems. He is an expert in the Spartan form of close combat which is a melding of several human and inhuman martial arts.
The Spartans prefer direct and efficient forms of combat so there are few of the visually impressive but not very efficient spinning kicks and acrobatics, but heavy on linear movement and direct strikes with hands, elbows, knees and feet.