Jonathan Ross, "Starfleet's Angel of Death".
General Jonathan Franklin Ross, Starfleet Marine Corps (April 16, 2347- ) is a fictional character created by Joshua Underwood in the world of Star Trek roleplaying. Ross is currently Underwood's main Starfleet character, and has been portrayed by Sean Pertwee - son of the late Jon Pertwee, one of the many incarnations of Doctor Who - since the character was created in 2004.
Underwood wishes to make it clear that his Starfleet general is NOT named for the British TV presenter/film critic Jonathan Ross; the name just popped into his head. In fact, until (out of curiosity) he looked up the name a year after he created the character, he didn't know the real Ross existed. To paraphrase the line often seen at the end of movies, this character is fictitious; any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Origins[]
Ross is a native Reydovan like his uncle Jeremiah Neill. His father, Alexander Ross, is the Governor-General of Reydovan Prime, and a cousin of noted Starfleet Vice Admiral William Ross, the commander of Federation forces during the war with the Dominion.
Ross possessed a keen tactician's mind well before he enlisted in the Imperial Marine Corps in 2365. He was a model student who made advancements not for himself, but for the betterment of his peers; this makes a striking contrast to his famous uncle, Jeremiah Neill, who was considered to be a self-righteous egotist. When Ross became an officer in the Imperial Marine Corps, he was appalled at how egotistical - and inexperienced - most of the officers were. Daniel Longstreet, who had commanded the RIMC since its inception, had felt the same. They became kindred spirits during Ross' service. In 2372, Longstreet entered the Starfleet Marine Corps at the rank of Lieutenant General, and Ross wanted to go with him. At first, Neill - now the commander of the RIMC - refused. Emperor Joshmaul, on the other hand, believed it would be a beneficial move, and so allowed Ross to accompany Longstreet to the front. Neill agreed reluctantly, but added the caveat that Ross return at his current rank, Captain, at the war's end. Ross had no intention of doing so, but in order to prevent Neill from "making even bigger of a jackass out of himself", as he said later, he agreed.
General Ross in 2375.
Ross' medals in 2384. He received two Orders of Reydovan in 2373 (Dominion War) and 2379 (Imperial Civil War) and an Imperial Iron Cross (Imperial Civil War).
Dominion War Service[]
Ross was a strategic genius during the war, using smaller forces to victory over larger ones. He commanded two ships over the course of the conflict: the Defiant-class U.S.S. Vigilant from 2373-2375, and the experimental carrier U.S.S. Concorde after 2375. During the Battle of Korolev Prime, on the Imperial/Federation border in 2373, Ross and the Vigilant led a Dominion fleet into a trap by using the "clearings" in the Korolev Expanse to his advantage. The Korolev Expanse had one entrance, known as the Imperial Gate, a corridor about a kilometer wide and a thousand kilometers long. Ross, using a small squadron, was wounded during the battle but managed to keep the Dominion's focus on him, and by the time the Dominion fleet made it through the Imperial Gate, Longstreet's larger forces were waiting for them, and found a weakened opponent by Ross' hit-and-run tactics. The Federation force entered the fray and destroyed the remainder of the force.
During the final year of the war, as a 28-year-old brigadier general, Ross commanded the First Light Reconnaissance Battalion, a small force that became known as the Ghost Riders for their stealthy battlefield tactics. At Lapolis, in command of the Concorde, Ross engaged and destroyed two Dominion dreadnoughts and managed to personally capture a third, which won him his sixth Purple Heart, as well as the coveted Federation Medal of Honor, the Silver Star and the Marine Cross. The war was finally over, and Neill ordered Ross to return home...but because of the honors heaped upon him - including four battlefield promotions, the Federation Medal of Honor and an unprecedented six Purple Hearts - Ross refused, and officially resigned from Imperial service, a gesture which was accepted by Emperor Joshmaul.
The Axis Triumvirate War[]
After the war ended, Ross remained at one star throughout most of his service and in command of the 1st LRB. It was only during the Reydovan Civil War, however, that Ross finally came into his own. General Samuel Askersson, the SFMC commandant, was AWOL and most of the other general officers of the SFMC - including the celebrated Mikhail Britanov, Ross' commanding officer during the war - had retired after the war; therefore, Ross was the only remaining senior officers in the Corps, and he sought to earn his way to the top. He did so through the use of his signature stealth tactics.
War had broken out between the Reydovan Empire and a force known as the Axis Triumvirate, which consisted of Reydovan renegades led by Artimus Devaneaux, the Romulan government of a resurrected Praetor Shinzon, and the Kraith Imperium. Artimus overthrew Emperor Joshmaul in a bloody coup and made himself Emperor, and began a reign of terror in the Reydovan Empire that lasted just over a month - but left a bloody toll in lives. In the Osiris system, Artimus caused the sun to go nova with an Omega particle-beam weapon, destroying the entire system and killing its seventy million inhabitants. On Prime itself, he forced the relocation and internment of the people of the town of New Valley Forge, where he built the castle of Shadowgarde - not wanting these "pathetic commoners" living near his fortress.
Ross was the senior tactician in Starfleet responsible for the battles against Artimus, who had become the primary public enemy. At the Battle of Draekar, Ross and Rear Admiral Svetlana Bolski led an attack against what they believed to be Artimus' Omega weapon, but was in fact a clever deception by a Starfleet traitor named Edward Sansky, who led a force that lured Starfleet defenders from Earth in order to allow Artimus to attack and force a Federation surrender. Ross and Bolski both decided to fight it out, and were rewarded by their efforts by the arrival of a very-much-alive Kiran Joshmaul, leading the Gorak'nar Commonwealth in battle against the Reydovan usurpers. Sansky was captured and his force all but destroyed, and Artimus himself was forced to withdraw. In recognition for his contributions to Earth's defense, Ross was promoted to full General and given command of the Starfleet Marine Corps.
Once in command, Ross immediately drew up plans to liberate Reydovan Prime, taking advantage of Artimus' sudden absence after his defeat to restore the legal government of the Reydovan Empire. In a plan he called "Operation Mountain Shadow", Ross led his old command, the 1st LRB, into the Imperial Palace to neutralize the enemy command structure (Generals Matthew Russell and Robert Highland, Artimus' two top lieutenants), and also to rescue young Josie Barton - Vice Admiral Herbert McWarren's stepdaughter - from their grasp. Josie was found quickly, but the fight for the Palace lasted another two days before the arrival of Reydovan resistance forces, led by Chancellor Joshua Underwood, who helped finish off both Russell and Highland, liberating the prisoners from the internment camps.
Now Ross prepares to lead the effort against Artimus himself, hiding in a volcanic base known as "Defileron". It would be there that the war would be decided.
Quotations by General Ross[]
"This will be the greatest experience in your lives. You, young Marines, are the future of this Corps. God knows, we need good people to be officers. But the Corps will not tolerate overambitious kissasses. We will promote you based on who you are and how you perform, not who your father was. Family lineage means nothing. I was not given honors because I'm related to Bill Ross. I was given honors because I earned them, and soon, so will you."
-address to the Command School at Starfleet Academy, 2379
"Admirals in the Fleet prefer to keep it clean, to use their so-called conventional tactics. Well, we're Marines. Conventional tactics? To hell with conventional tactics! They never work when you bloody need them."
-to his men, prior to the Battle of Lapolis, 2376