Jerry Heberling
Jerry Heberling is a human from the planet Grafton-3, and is First Mate of the free trader Princess Emilie.
History
Born on the planet Grafton 3 (locally known as "Earth" or "Terra"), a pre-jump world within the borders of the Tyrin Empire, near the border with the Federated Worlds. He was captured along with his friend John Wyson by the Azuli slaver Jemny Lovec.
With the assistance of Lovec's Engineer, Jerry, John, and a girl from Khet named Azzah Rasha escaped from the cryotubes, killed Lovec and took over the ship. Landing on the pirate planet Tal Haliim, they managed to sell off some hardware from the ship to refuel, and took on a a smuggling job. While there they renamed Lovec's ship from Lady Destiny to Princess Emilie. After having some issues with the residents of Tal Haliim, Princess Emile had to blast it's way out, and in the process their engineer T'amali was killed.
After dropping off their first cargo on Deimos-9, a shipment of weapons for a beleaguered rebellion, they were then hired by the rebels to transport some illegal alien artifacts to the nearby Deimos-4. On Deimos-4 they were given a job by the company Starwide Shipping to transport cargo to the planet Boras in the Tyrin Empire. The job was actually arranged by the solicitors of AJ Olsen and Michael Houghtaling, who were trying to maneuver their friends to Tyrin without their involvement becoming public. While there they recruited an engineer, Solie Batine.
En route to Boras, Princess Emilie encountered a gravity anomaly that pulled them out of hyperspace, destroying their hyperdrive and nearly the ship. They ended up trapped in a graveyard of ships, and managed to salvage the hyperdrive from one of them. They also encountered half of the massive passenger liner Asamara Journey, famous for having disappeared 60 years previously. While their engineer Solie rebuilt the hyperdrive, they explored the ruined ship, salvaging some items. While salvaging, the anomaly became active again, the turbulence throwing the ships around violently. They were forced to abandon John aboard Asamara Journey in order to save the ship and rest of the crew, and escaped the anomaly with their newly replaced hyperdrive and completed their journey to Boras.
On Boras they were given another transport job from Starwide Shipping, this time sending them to the capital of the Empire, Tyrin. While there they encountered a young street thief named Jin and recruited him to the crew. They also had an encounter where they rescued a girl from street thugs, and she turned out to be the Lady Tessa Draymark, daughter of the Earl Draymark, Governor of Boras.
The crew of Princess Emilie arrived in Alkirk, capital of Tyrin, just hours before the Battle of Alkirk. During the battle Jerry assisted in rescuing a downed Tyrin pilot, before escaping the city.
Special Notes
- Jerry has an implant designed for the Garn Special Forces that increases his strength and agility, and makes him extremely quick in combat. It also promotes rapid healing, and as a result he appears younger than his true age.
- Jerry is in possession of an ancient alien artifact in the form of a black ring that he wears. During his street fight on Boras the device activated, covering his hand and forearm in a blue light that shielded him from the impact of an improvised weapon (a pipe).
