Jeanette Marik

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Jeanette Marik
Character Profile
Born 2766[citation needed]
Died 22 March 2837[citation needed]
Affiliation ComStar;
House Marik (former)[1]
Parents Thaddeus Marik (father)[citation needed]
Siblings Charles Marik II[citation needed]
Oskar Marik[citation needed]

The eldest child of Thaddeus Marik, Jeanette Marik chose to join ComStar instead of becoming Captain-General of the Free Worlds League, unwittingly playing a key role in the ComStar War between the parties.[1][2]

History[edit]

The eldest of Thaddeus Marik's three children and thus first in the line of succession, following his death in 2820 during the final stages of the First Succession War, the level-headed Jeanette was considered by the Free Worlds League Parliament the natural choice to become Captain-General compared to her tactically savvy but more abrupt and uncharismatic brother Charles. However Jeanette had little interest in the post, making it especially clear her distaste for the prospect of leading the League in such a war-torn era, instead choosing to join the neutral quasi-religious communications organization ComStar.[2]

Delighted that such a high-ranked scion of a Great House had chosen to join the order, Primus of ComStar Conrad Toyama personally oversaw her acceptance into the Order. While all people attempting to join the organization went through indoctrination sessions, due to Toyama's paranoia that her approach was an effort by the League to infiltrate ComStar, Jeanette's went far beyond most, with rumors of Star League era brainwashing drugs. No matter if her intentions were honest in choosing to join ComStar, the Jeanette Marik that emerged was a fanatical believer of the Blessed Blake equal only to Toyama himself. Ever a dutiful member of the ComStar Order, Jeanette made numerous recruitment trips, trading on her famous last name and improving the public perception of the organization within the borders of the Free Worlds League.[2]

Meanwhile, her brother Charles ruthlessly consolidated his position and attempted to rebuild the devastated infrastructure of the League. However he was forced to admit defeat with his failed efforts to restore the Free Worlds League's shattered intelligence organization SAFE from the losses it suffered in the First Succession War. Desperate to overcome the intelligence blind-spot as tensions among Great Houses increased ahead of the Second Succession War, in February 2830 Charles met privately with Jeanette on Irian during one of her many recruitment trips and asked her to use her ComStar connections to intercept military communications relating to Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces and Capellan Confederation Armed Forces intentions against the League. Incorrectly assuming that her loyalty to her family was greater than to ComStar when she agreed to do so, Charles failed to realize that she would also immediately inform the Primus of his request.[2]

Already seeking a way to draw the Free Worlds League into the Second Succession War as part of his Operation DIVINE INTERVENTION, and to reinforce Jeanette's loyalty to the Order by showing that his brother was not above the mindless warmongering that led her to join ComStar, Toyama provided her with a document he claimed had come from the Lyran high command to the commander of the Skye Rangers containing plans for the invasion of Graham IV, Castor and Callison. Unaware that the document had been created by Toyama himself, Jeanette passed on the seemingly important transmission to her brother in mid-June. Wholeheartedly believing its authenticity, Charles refused to accept Lyran denials that such attacks weren't planned and ordered his troops into a state of readiness to launch his own attack against House Steiner.[2][3]

As Marik forces stepped up preparations to prevent and preempt the supposed Steiner invasion, the Lyran Commonwealth was forced to do the same, creating the threat that faked documents had foretold and moving both nations to the brink of war. Thrilled at the success of this plot, Toyama revealed to the First Circuit his eventual goal. With their shattered intelligence network, the Free Worlds League would be desperate for the secret intelligence ComStar could provide, and Toyama believed this could be used to damage the FWLM and Charles to the point where Jeanette would again be the only choice for the Captain-Generalcy, making the Successor State a de facto ComStar protectorate.[2]

Between 2831 and 2836 Jeanette and her ComStar colleagues sent periodic messages to the palace at Atreus providing extraordinarily accurate LCAF and CCAF troop dispositions and movements that allowed House Marik to win a series of grand military campaigns against Houses Liao and Steiner. However for the great number of successful campaigns, there were also a number of setbacks and losses which Charles was convinced could only be due to his enemies receiving similar advance info of Marik troop movements. Eventually he began to suspect ComStar's role in providing similar aid to his enemies, reaching the conclusion that the Order desired crippling the League to the point of requiring direct ComStar aid. Charles however lacked tangible proof, and devised a top-secret plan to expose ComStar's duplicity, Operation COOKIE JAR.[2][4]

Known only to a handful of personally selected SAFE agents and the Captain-General himself, Charles visited Jeanette at her posting as a Precentor at the Class A hyperpulse generator at Oriente in February 2837 and revealed that his troops had recently discovered a lost Star League military warehouse on Cursa. Afterwards, he secretly ordered the Marshall of Oriente to transmit the same information to Atreus using an old security code known only to ComStar. The operation culminated on March 13 when House Liao forces struck Cursa with three regiments of crack troops, who only found a virtually abandoned world. Charles Marik had confirmed his suspicions, and worse, had proven that his own sister was likely party to the betrayal.[2][4]

Death and Legacy[edit]

The enraged Captain-General ordered a strike fleet consisting of the last WarShips in the Free Worlds League to destroy the Oriente hyperpulse generator and kill all ComStar personnel, including his sister. Without warning, on March 22 the fleet unleashed a bombardment which obliterated the orbiting HPG station, its 230 staff, and more than 132 civilians.[2][4]

Quotes[edit]

One of the reasons I didn't want to be Captain-General was that I would have to deal with people like Marcus Steiner. He's the kind of jerk that likes to say things like, 'I'm not here to win any popularity contests.'

— Jeanette Marik[3]

I can't stand tough guys. They always seem to have missed out on everything in life that makes a person human.

— Jeanette Marik[4]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Second Succession War, p. 66
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 ComStar, pp. 24–27: "ComStar War"
  3. 3.0 3.1 House Marik (The Free Worlds League), p. 32: "History - The Second Succession War - The Fighting Resumes - The Unanswered Question"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 House Marik (The Free Worlds League), pp. 32–33: "History - The Second Succession War - At War with ComStar"

Bibliography[edit]