Christopf von Köfenhiller

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Revision as of 07:51, 12 May 2011

Christopf von Köfenhiller was a captain in the Imperial Fleet, who was captured by the Free Planets Alliance during the Second Battle of Tiamat. He was born in 716 and died early in the morning on New Year's Day 789 UC (480 IC / 3589 CE) at the age of 73.

History

In the Galactic Empire

Köfenhiller was the son of a noble family on Odin, and had an arranged marriage with the daughter of a count, whom he quickly fell in love with. After only one year of marriage, however, Köfenhiller's wife approached him and asked for a divorce: she had been having an affair with a promising young architect, and planned to marry him. Köfenhiller refused the divorse, and his wife left him.

The count, Köfenhiller's father-in-law, attempted to persuade Köfenhiller to sign the divorce papers several times, even offering him money to do so. Köfenhiller refused every time. Eventually, the count used his contacts within the Empire's Ministry of the Interior, where Köfenhiller worked, to get him transferred to a frontier posting.

Köfenhiller served for a time as an aide to admiral Christoph von Michaelsen, but was later transferred yet again to the Ministry of Intelligence, under admiral Korzel. Köfenhiller was on the bridge of Korzell's flagship during the Second Battle of Tiamat. After the flagship was heavily damaged in battle, the dying Korzell ordered Köfenhiller to surrender to the Free Planets Alliance.

In the Free Planets Alliance

After surrendering to the Free Planets Alliance during the Second Battle of Tiamat, Köfenhiller and his compatriots were detained in the Alliance's internment camp on the planet Econia, in the Thanatos Starzone. While most of his fellow prisoners deeply desired to return home, Köfenhiller did not care. He relished in the fact that, so long as he remained alive and imprisoned on the other side of the galaxy, his wife would never be able to divorce him or marry her lover.

Köfenhiller assumed the responsibility of writing to the families of prisoners who died while in the POW camp, and soon became an authority figure. In the course of his 40-year stay at the camp, many Alliance officers came to respect him, and tried to get him preferential treatment for a prisoner exchange with the Empire, but each time, Köfenhiller refused. He spent most of his time researching the mysterious events surrounding the defection of Imperial admiral Martin Otto von Siegmeister and the murder of Imperial admiral Christoph von Michaelsen, eventually coming to believe that both men had been involved in a pan-galactic conspiracy culminating in the murder of Alliance hero, Bruce Ashbey. SL: 'The Hero of Econia'SL: 'A Thread from the Past'

Freedom

On 9. November 788 UC (479 IC / 3588 CE), Yang Wen-li was transferred to the Econia Interment Camp. He met with Köfenhiller, who immediately took a liking to the eccentric young "hero of El Facil." That night, an prisoner named Presberg, stages a small rebellion, taking several FPA officers hostage. After Yang Wen-li (and Fyodor Patrichev substitute themselves for the safe release of the hostages, Köfenhiller joins them. Köfenhiller informs the two FPA officers of the Camp commander, Barnaby Costea's crimes (embezzlement of military funds) and they quickly realize that Costea intends them both to die, that they might be scapegoats for his crimes.

Köfenhiller leads Yang, Patrichev, Presberg and the other prisoners out of the 17th Compound after Costea begins shelling the area with mortars. Presberg confesses that the rebellion had been staged by Costea in order to eliminate Yang, whom he feared might be a secret agent sent to investigate his crimes. Köfenhiller leads Yang and Patrichev through the camp's old communication tunnels, all the way to the command center. There, Patrichev breaks through the walls and, together with Yang, they arrest Costea. SL: 'Prisoners and Hostages'SL: 'A Rebellion of Microscopic Size'

After Murai arrests Costea for embezzlement, Köfenhiller is granted release from the Econial Internment Camp, and granted full citizenship in the Free Planets Allinace, as well as the full retirement benefits that would be due to a captain in the FPA military. Yang Wen-li and Fyodor Patrichev accompany Köfenhiller on the trip back to Heinessen. Yang Wen-li determines that Köfenhiller was most likely the culprit behind the Tuesday Correspondence, but Köfenhiller refuses say anything, neither admitting his guilt or defending his innocence. During a layover at a spaceport terminal on Masszitt on New Year's Eve, Köfenhiller dies of natural causes. He is burried on Masszitt four days later: both Yang and Patrichev attend the funeral. SL: 'The Hero of Econia'SL: 'A Thread from the Past'