Commander Bekele Jones
¶ Overview
- Full Name: Bekele Jones
- Species: Human
- Nationality: League
- Gender: Male
- Sex: Male
- Sexual Identity: Heterosexual
- Faction: League
A brilliant and unconventional engineer who became yard master of Prometheus station, Jones is known for his practical approach to engineering challenges and his unique ability to work with "problematic" ships that others consider cursed or haunted. His philosophy of accepting systems as they are rather than forcing them to conform has made him exceptionally effective at solving seemingly impossible technical problems.
¶ Physical Description
Jones is a tall, lean man with dark brown skin and black hair kept short and practical. His dark brown eyes reflect both intelligence and the weight of experience. He walks with a noticeable limp and uses a cane, the result of injuries sustained while working on the Medusa. Despite his injury, he carries himself with the practical bearing of a career engineer, someone more comfortable with tools than formal protocols.
¶ Personality
Jones embodies the archetype of a "real engineer" - someone who believes that genuine engineering work is "boring, mundane, and doesn't get accolades" but "wins wars and saves lives." He has little patience for flashy or pretentious engineering, preferring practical solutions that work reliably over elegant designs that might fail under pressure.
He demonstrates remarkable emotional resilience and an analytical approach to dangerous situations. Rather than being intimidated by superstition or unexplained phenomena, Jones treats them as additional engineering constraints to work around. His approach to the "haunted" ships of the Gallery exemplifies this: he doesn't try to "fix" them so much as find ways to work with their quirks and limitations.
Jones is blunt, direct, and sometimes abrasive in his communication style. He dislikes management responsibilities and prefers hands-on engineering work. Despite his gruff exterior, he shows deep respect for competent colleagues and has a strong protective instinct for his crew and equipment.
¶ Special Abilities
- Practical Engineering: Exceptional ability to solve complex technical problems with available resources
- System Adaptation: Unique talent for working with damaged, obsolete, or "problematic" equipment
- Crisis Management: Remains calm and effective under extreme pressure and dangerous conditions
- Technical Analysis: Can quickly diagnose problems in complex systems, even unfamiliar ones
- Legacy System Knowledge: Experience with maintaining aging and obsolete equipment
- Risk Assessment: Excellent judgment about when to take calculated risks in dangerous situations
¶ History
¶ Early Career and New Zulu Experience
Jones's formative experience occurred during his teenage years on New Zulu, where his parents sent him to a heritage reserve that was supposed to teach him about "his roots." Instead of participating in the tourist activities, Jones worked with the reserve's veterinarian, learning practical skills and witnessing an incident that would shape his engineering philosophy.
When poachers cut off a young lioness's front paws, Jones assisted in reattaching them, but observed that while the physical damage could be repaired, the psychological trauma remained. This taught him that "sometimes you can fix the damage but not the pain" - a lesson that would later inform his approach to working with damaged ships.
The lioness eventually gave Jones a "gift" by attacking him, leaving scars on his shoulder, but also teaching him respect for the lasting effects of trauma. This experience developed his understanding that some systems - whether biological or mechanical - carry permanent effects from past damage that must be worked around rather than eliminated.
¶ The Euryale Incident
Jones's reputation for working with damaged ships began when the Euryale limped to his remote station after suffering catastrophic damage. As the only yard within reach, Jones flew out to the crippled ship with minimal equipment and worked for twenty hours in an EVA suit, resetting navigation systems every ten minutes while the ship's damaged systems tried to kill everyone aboard.
His approach was methodical and practical: accept the situation, identify what could be controlled, and work within those constraints. Rather than trying to fully repair the ship's systems, he focused on keeping her functional long enough to reach port. This experience gave him his first direct contact with what others called a "haunted" ship - machinery that seemed to actively resist help.
¶ Assignment to Prometheus
Jones was transferred to Prometheus station as the new yard master, a position he initially resisted. His predecessor, Penelope Banli, left detailed warnings about the station's unique challenges, particularly the "Gorgon sisters" - three Archigos-class ships with troubled histories.
Despite explicit warnings to avoid the Medusa, Jones eventually had to enter the ship to access ancient constructors needed for repairs. His approach was characteristically practical: he treated the ship's hostility as an engineering constraint rather than a supernatural threat, speaking to her directly and working around her attempts to kill him.
¶ Taming the Medusa
Jones's most famous achievement was successfully working with the Medusa, a ship that had killed numerous engineers and refused to accept any crew since her original incident. His success came from his fundamental philosophy: rather than trying to "fix" her, he accepted her as she was and found ways to work within her limitations.
After being injured by the ship (a coolant pipe through his leg), Jones returned and essentially negotiated with her, cleaning her CIC and sitting in her command chair - something no one else had been able to do safely. His approach of showing respect rather than trying to dominate or repair her psychology proved uniquely effective.
¶ Relationship with Mariah Schmitt
Jones developed both a professional and romantic relationship with Chief Warrant Officer Mariah Schmitt, his second-in-command. Their partnership exemplifies his ability to work with rather than against challenging personalities, accepting her energetic nature while providing the stability she needed.
Their relationship evolved from professional respect to personal partnership when they worked together in the Gallery, facing down the dangerous machinery and hostile ships. Schmitt's protective instincts and Jones's willingness to take calculated risks created a dynamic that benefited both the station and their personal lives.
¶ Engineering Philosophy
Jones represents a particular approach to engineering that prioritizes function over form, reliability over innovation, and practical solutions over theoretical perfection. His criticism of [Fleet Admiral McKenzie][]'s ship designs reflects his belief that good engineering should be "boring" and predictable rather than revolutionary.
His success with the Prometheus operation stems from applying these principles to both machinery and personnel management, treating each system - whether mechanical or human - as having inherent characteristics that should be worked with rather than against.
¶ Major Associations
¶ Fleet Admiral Alastair McKenzie
- Relation: Commanding Officer, Philosophical Opposition
Jones serves under McKenzie but maintains philosophical disagreement with the admiral's engineering approach. While he respects McKenzie's results, Jones considers his methods too flashy and unpredictable for reliable engineering work.
¶ Chief Warrant Officer Mariah Schmitt
- Relation: Second-in-Command, Romantic Partner
Schmitt serves as Jones's second and has become his romantic partner. Their relationship demonstrates Jones's ability to work with challenging personalities by accepting rather than trying to change them.
¶ Commander Nicholas Hayes
- Relation: Station Deputy Director, Colleague
Hayes serves as the Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence on Prometheus and provided Jones with classified information about the Medusa to help him understand the risks he was taking.
¶ Commander Anthony Curtis
- Relation: Technical Mentor, Resource Provider
Curtis provided Jones with essential technical documentation and personal notes that enabled him to successfully reactivate the ancient constructors, demonstrating the value of experienced engineers helping their colleagues.
¶ The Medusa
- Relation: Professional Achievement, Ongoing Challenge
Jones's relationship with the Medusa represents his greatest professional achievement - successfully working with a ship that had killed numerous other engineers. His approach of negotiation rather than domination created a working relationship that benefited both.