Thomas A. Williams
Thomas Alred Williams was a retired US Naval officer when he and his wife were collected at a Confederacy Extraction ('pickup') at Little Creek Mall, just outside Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk, Virginia towards the end of Year 2. Tom took four concubines with him:
- Hannah Williams, his wife of 20+ years, later the Beerat system Dux, the CSO responsible for all personnel in the system
- LaRhonda Williams, a heavyset black woman with 3 children, later the Beerat system 'Mommie' (the CS Tribune responsible for the care and wellbeing of all under-14 humans in the system)
- Joannie Williams, an overweight but attractive blonde with two children Johnny 10 and Sally 8
- Tina Hernandez, a willowy Cuban with one child Hector 5, later the 7MD Vicarius, the CSO responsible for all personnel throughout the District
Little is known about Governor Williams' early service with the Confederacy. After some time in the early colonial fleets, he was transferred back to Earthat where he served as the Navigator and an instructor on CNS Dublin. Dublin was a Europa which had been set aside as a school ship, helping the crews of new-build ships learn their jobs. Soon after the Battle of Tulakat he was sent to command CNS Avery, an Ainsworth frigate helping maintain the blockade there.
During this period, Captain Williams did not invent, but was largely responsible for the popularity of, the "Williams Mod" to the Concubine shipboard skin-suit.
Captain Williams's time in Avery ended abruptly when his ship found itself the only one in position to stop a Sa'arm blockade-runner. After the ship's weapons systems proved themselves inadequate, he ordered the ship evacuated except for himself, an engineer, and two gunners, and piloted the ship to ram. The ship's gunners eventually made this tactic unnecessary, but his orders and actions made Captain Williams a minor hero among the fleet.
Avery was too damaged for local repairs, so it was patched up until it was space-worthy, then sent back to its builder in Earthat space for proper repairs. This allowed Captain Williams' court-martial for attempted suicide to be followed throughout the Diaspora almost in real time, and the video record of his defense was dispersed far and wide. His acquittal and subsequent promotion to command a major warship -leading a small squadron back at Tulakat so he was effectively a commodore or junior admiral- showed the fleet that he had been cleared of all charges.
Commodore Williams's "Outer Patrol Force" or OPF fulfilled all assigned tasks with competence, but after some personality issues with the officer commanding the Tulakat blockade fleet, Williams was promoted to Rear Admiral and assigned to a suicide mission. This mission was cancelled in mid-transfer by the CNO, and RAdm. Williams was instead assigned to lead a task force to, not protect a colony, but instead to protect a planet of non-spacefaring aliens and deny the system to the Sa'arm.
The Confederacy force ended up creating a human colony at Beerat anyway, as the only way they could obtain the support they needed to remain on station. When the colony grew to the point where a governor was required, Williams stepped into that role, trading his military 'Admiral' hat for a civilian 'Governor' hat.
Governor Williams led the human colony at Beerat through some ugly times and into a leading position in the 7th Military District, retiring after some 80 years as Governor. For most of that period he also served as System Governor.
Governor Williams had wanted to command the relief fleet that 7MD sent to Sol after the Sa'arm landed on every continent, but our agreement with the original Confederacy prohibited civil authorities from directly commanding military forces. Governor Williams became famous again for claiming to be only a Rear Admiral, and going along as merely in command of one of the fleet's task forces.
Once in Earthat Space, "Rear Admiral" Williams was detached from the fleet and, using his real authority as a Governor, assigned to the effort to clean out the headquarters ships for both Central Command ("CC") and the Department of Evacuation and Colonial Operations ("DECO"). Both bureaucracies had become more intent on consolidating their power than on actually doing their jobs.
As a Colony Governor, Williams was a member of the Steering Committee from its inception until he stepped down as Governor. He is said to have been the mastermind behind the creation of the War Council. He also led a group -often called the "Beerat Caucus"- of like-minded governors in several drives to correct several perceived shortcomings in Confederacy society.
Characters associated with Governor Williams:
- Admiral Kevin Bagswell, Governor Williams' adjutant during the early Beerat years
- Dr. Joey Farris, lead inventor and technical wizard for Beerat, later Brigadier General
- Vicarius Tina Hernandez, one of Governor Williams' original concubines, later the commanding CSO for 7MD
- Admiral Jack Maroni, seconded from Brak, later commanded 7MD's expedition to Earthat
- Eduardo Moraes, a naval officer stationed at Beerat who came up with the "Moraes Conjecture", a theory about Sa'arm behavior which cannot be proven without understanding them, but has not yet been opposed by any verified counter-examples.
- Admiral "Junior" Podalski, seconded from Jutland, an expert in small-craft operations.
- Dr. Rasmussen, an anthropologist with the "Academy of Beerology" which helped establish close relations with the Beer
- Dux Hannah Williams, Governor Williams' wife and first concubine, later the commanding CSO for Beerat
- Admiral Sally Williams, one of Governor Williams' adopted children by his original concubine LaRhonda Williams and well-known for her stories of Beerat, the Battles for Earth, and the two expeditions to neighboring galactic arms.
- Lady Jessica Williams-Bagsworth, one of Governor Williams' grandchildren, well-known for her biographies of several Swarm War heroes.
See Also
(Someday this will be a navigation template. It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links. Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))
