Hugo Valdez:
Former Allegiance:
Enlisted Officer, UEP Navy United Earth Parliament
Enlisted Officer, UEP Guard United Earth Parliament
Military Occupation:
General (retired), UEP Navy & UEP CSOW
Supreme Commander, Interstellar Human Alliance Force
Formal Education:
Level 4 General Degree
Level 7 Stellar War Command
Level 7 Infantry Command
Level 6 Spatial Combat
Level 5 Cyber Warfare
Level 5 Infantry Warrior
Status:
Biography:
General Hugo Valdez was born in the island of Cuba (Earth, Sol System) on May 3, 2029 to his Cuban parents Raul Valdez and Marisol Hernandez. His father took over raising Valdez as a child when his mother drowned in a boating accident.
Raul Valdez came from a military background and consequently raised his son with military-style discipline. As a boy, Hugo Valdez studied military history, classical literature and even poetry. Valdez Sr. home-schooled his son into attaining Level 4 General and Level 2 Infantry Command degrees.
When his father died of natural aging, Hugo Valdez left Cuba and moved to Western Australia (Earth, Sol System). There he entered into service with the UEP Guard and attended the UEP Guard War College. He completed his Infantry Command degree all the way to Level 7, and then went on to earn his Level 5 Cyber Warfare and Level 5 Infantry Warfare degrees simultaneously– an unheard of feat.
Having exhausted his interest in the UEP Guard, Valdez transferred to the UEP Navy War College and studied spatial warfare. There he earned Level 6 Spatial Combat and Level 7 Stellar War Command degrees. Subsequently, he joined the UEP Destroyer UES Turrent as a bridge officer, serving a five-year tour there.
On the last year of his tour, the Turrent responded to a distress call from a transport convoy. As the destroyer arrived, pirates ambushed her, inflicting heavy damage and causalities— the captain among them. Valdez took command of the ship, and despite the odds, led the beleaguered crew to victory over the pirates.
In recognition of his leadership and military skill, he was awarded the UEP Distinguished Service Medal and promoted to Captain. Consequently, he was given command of his first ship, the UEP Destroyer, UES Apocalyptic.
While on the Apocalyptic, Valdez met his future wife, Olivia Rand, a bridge officer on the ship. They married in secret and continued to serve together for years before she became pregnant with his child. Begrudgingly, Rand resigned her commission and stayed home to care for their newborn son, Jason.
When the UEP-Confed War began in November 2115, Valdez made the bold move of abandoning his UEP Navy career to rejoin the UEP Guard. As a Major in the Guard, he commanded the 22nd Mechanized Infantry Division and was one of the first troops to land on Martian ground.
Marching past the rest of the UEP Guard, Valdez’s division met the Martian Confederacy’s Praetorian Guard head on, sending it into a rout. Ignoring the original battle plan, Valdez marched his army right up to the Martian capital building in Elysium and was poised to take it over and end the war. Instead, his superiors ordered him to stand-down, as a cease-fire was now in place.
For his accomplishments in the war, Valdez was promoted to Colonel and awarded the UEP Medal of Heroism. With the Treaty of Phobos, the UEP-Confed war ended and Valdez retired from the UEP Guard.
In an ironic twist, Valdez relocated to Mars under a six-month civilian contract for the Confed military. His assignment was to help reorganize the Praetorian Guard into a more effective fighting force.
When the UEP military brass learned of this arrangement, they attempted to strip Valdez of his commission and even charge him with treason. To avoid a conflict with his homeworld, Valdez agreed to abort his contract with the Confed and leave Mars immediately.
When he returned, Valdez experienced a personal conflict of his own. Rand left their home and disappeared with his son. Valdez spent the next three months scouring the system to find them, but to no avail.
Unable to cope with the loss, Valdez attempted suicide, shooting himself in the head with an old, gun-powder shotgun. Ironically, it was Rand, who decided to return home, that found him and reported the suicide.
Effectively dead, UEP military medics arrived to revive what was left of him. Despite the massive cranial and cerebral damage, the Majesty-controlled nanobots saved him— but had to take up permanent residence inside his head for the remainder of his life.
No explanation exists in the public record for why the UEP (and Majesty) took such extensive measures to save the General.
After recovering, Valdez divorced his wife and rejoined the UEP Navy. The admiralty recognized his potential and began helping him fast-track his career to the upper echelons of the admiralty. However, after a promotion to Brigadier General, his journey through the ranks was cut short by the beginning of the AI War.
When the AI War began, Valdez used his ties with members of both the UEP and Confed admiralty to become appointed as the Supreme Commander for the Interstellar Human Alliance (IHA)— a position he held throughout the war.
For the first two years of the war, the AI was seemingly invincible, attacking cities and military assets on Earth and Mars with impunity. Despite the seeming lack of progress, Valdez had been working on a secret plan with the intention of destroying the AI Moon and ending the war.
On April 15, 2098, he executed the plan and personally lead the combined spatial and land assault against the AI Moon, which become known as the controversial Battle of Gibson.
The victory was bittersweet as he once again became embroiled in controversy over his tactics in the war. Although exonerated of any wrongdoing, Valdez was still forced to retire from military service.
On July 21, 2099, less than a year after the war ended, General Hugo Valdez died from residual complications from his suicide attempt.
