Slade Carver

Slade Carver
- 2790 (K.I.A.)
Callsign	Tex
Place of death	Draknor Station
Allegiance	Central Intelligence Service
Service/branch	Space Marine Corps Special Operations
Years of service	2770-2790
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Black Watch Search and Destroy
Battles/wars	Scatterbelt Wars
Awards	Golden Cluster Silver Comet Legion of Honour Platinum Star Distinguished Medal of Honor Black Eagle of Courage Standard of the Brave
Relations	one child
Other work	CIS Interplanetary Combat Manual

Slade Carver was a Central Intelligence Service Space Marine Corps Special Operations fighter pilot and the author of CIS Interplanetary Combat Manual. Carver joined the CIS in 2770 and was awarded every possible military honor during his twenty year career. He was universally recognized by inhabitants of the Tri-System as a war hero for surviving the One-Way Ticket Torpedo Run during the Scatterbelt Wars. He was the only living recipient of the Golden Cluster. Carver's writing was infused with rural colloquialisms, contributing to his call sign "Tex". Carver died in 2790 during an unsanctioned mission against the Chirichan Clan. He was survived by a child on Anhur.

Final Mission

By 2790, Carver was flying an ML3B heavy fighter on anti-piracy operations with a Black Watch regiment Special Operations search and destroy wing. During a routine mission against the Chirichan Clan his fighter suffered a system failure which forced him to return to base early. The rest of the wing was subsequently ambushed and destroyed by a Chirichan deep space reconnaissance unit.

Furious over his comrades' deaths, Carver plotted a personal mission to destroy the pirates' back markers at the System Jump Gate, their guard at Nav #59, their perimeter defense around Draknor Station at Nav #154 and then to engage the returning deep space reconnaissance forces at the station itself. He posted a mission on the Commerce and Communications Network Bulletin Board database offering a 7,000 credit reward for a wingman who should meet him at Nav #70 for a briefing.

The mission was accepted by Vel Ricaud, then known as Lev Arris, who rendezvoused with Carver at Nav #70 and fought off two Demon and three Heron. Carver brief Ricaud via e-mail, who agreed to continue the mission. The pair destroyed three Heron, a Demon and a Chirichan Shuttle guarding the jump point at Nav #64, two Heron, two Demons and a Testmos at Nav #59 and then three waves of the perimeter guard at Nav #154: three Testmos and a Heron followed by two wings of one Heron and one Testmos each.

At this point Carver e-mailed Ricaud to order him not to continue on to the station; he planned to attack a pair of Chirichan Cruiser's and recognized that it was a suicide mission. Ricaud proceded to the station anyway and assisted Carver in destroying the cruisers and their escort fighters, two Demons and two Testmos followed by three Heron. Carver's fighter suffered critical damage to its life support system, ensuring that he would not survive long after the battle.

Carver e-mailed Ricaud to follow him back to Nav #154 so that the pirates on the station would not watch him die. There he dropped a pod containing his personal effects and a request that they be dropped in a Uni-Freight. The pod also contained an additional 2,000 CR and Carver's regimental colors for Ricaud.

CIS Special Operations Colonel Brett Stryker, who wrote the introduction to Carver's book, eulogized him in an e-mail to Ricaud as "the best damn space marine we ever had... God damn hero."

Behind the Screens

• Carver's unit is listed as "Blackwatch" in the Privateer 2 manuals and "Black Watch" in Privateer 2 itself.

• The fact that Carver's call sign is "Tex" seems to connect the Tri-System to some point in Earth's history.