Jason Boyens is a former syndicate CEO and a former commander in the Syndicate Reserve Flotilla.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Jason Boyens began a career as a very promising engineer starting his own company, but after a rival stole his engineering company, he make a scandal and appealed at the Syndic laws. Making so much noise disgusted the Syndic leaders, which got rid of him by enlisting and "promoting him" to 2nd in command of the Reserve Flotilla, stationed in the farthest reaches of Syndic space, a de facto exile.
Exile to the Reserve Flotilla[]
As second officer of the Flotilla, Jason lacked any promotion options, and began getting to know and appreciate the people of the region. When the Flotilla was sent to fight the Alliance, he believed they were those to blame for Kalixa's hypernet gate destruction, but also that the Flotilla's retrieval left Midway and all the surrounding region undefended against the Enigma threat.
Prisoner[]
Jason survived the Battle of Varandal, though wounded. As prisoner, he asked to talk to Admiral John Geary, and shared the information he knew, both about the Syndicate leadership and the Enigma race, in exchange for Geary's promise to defend human space against them. During the Second Battle of Prime, his advice proved very useful to ending the war. He also helped to negotiate the armistice.
Once in Midway, Jason helped convince CEO Gwen Iceni to the good intentions of Alliance Fleet, and once again, his knowledge helped to defeat the Enigmas in the First Battle of Midway. Once the aliens were defeated, he was given by Geary the means to locate and erase the Enigma spy programs and transferred to a Midway's warship.
End of the War[]
After the end of hostilities Jason took a ship to travel to Prime, where he expected to be promoted as he was one of the last high ranking mobile forces survivors and had convinced Geary to defend Syndic space.
Civil-War Commander[]
Boyens hopes proved to be illusory: while he was put at command of a flotilla and of the Battleship BB-57E, it was with a very unpleasant mission: to reconquer the recently rebelled Midway system for the Syndicate. Besides, he wasn't the real leader: The ISS CEO Hua Boucher was with him, awaiting an excuse to kill him if he failed... or was "too successful", as the Syndicate leaders didn't want popular rivals.
Jason flotilla's mission, already difficult, become impossible when the Enigma race ships attacked Midway again. Knowing that his superiors didn't want to lose ships, he was forced to stay near the hypernet gate, without making any move. After the Second Battle of Midway, the aliens were defeated, but Boyens could not attack Midway's forces while the Alliance fleet was present. He threatened to destroy the Hypernet gate, but Iceni's gift of part of it to the Alliance prevented it.
Boyens first chance to strike arrived when a modified Heavy cruiser, the C-712, filled with refugees arrived by the gate, but when a ship from the Midway Flotilla threatened to ram his Battleship, he was forced to call off the attack and let them escape. Some later after the cruiser left along with an escorting cruiser from Midway, the Manticore returned via the gate. His ships pursued them, but too late, he realized than the cruiser was transmitting a Alliance IFF. He had been tricked into engaging a technically Alliance ship, giving the Alliance First fleet the excuse needed to move to engage Jason's fleet. Without alternatives, he ordered a full retreat, escaping to Prime by the gate, but not before one of his own light cruisers, the crew of which had mutinied, was self-destructed by a Snakes safety measure to prevent defection.
On the Run[]
Once in Prime, Jason knew he wouldn't be well received: he had lost a ship, and failed to execute his orders. Happy Hua quickly accused him of the defeat, saying he was "insufficiently zealous" in pursuing Syndicate's goals. Knowing that to stay was to die, he boarded a courier ship and defected. His destination, ironically, was Midway again, as he knew the leaders and expected to make a deal with them. He was arrested on arrival, but warned them about the imminent return of his old flotilla.
While was arrested, Boyens was treated well, but didn't say nothing, not until Iceni interrogated him. When she told him that Drakon was leading a force to liberate Ulindi, he warned her the system's "Supreme CEO", Haris, wasn't really an independent leader, but a Syndic puppet, and that the system was a trap. His warning allowed Gwen to send reinforcements in time, assuring Midway's victory on the Battle of Ulindi.
Jason didn't expect too much gratitude from Iceni and Drakon, so he was very surprised when they said him than were to release him and send him to Ulindi, where he could become, with his own means, the new leader. He accepted the offer, promising to share everything he knew about the Syndicate and remain loyal to Midway.
New Start at Ulindi[]
After being released from his imprisonment, he joined the Ulindi representative as they were transported to Ulindi to discuss the formation of the Phoenix Stars and Ulindi joining it, after passing through a security checkpoint at Ulindi's Space dock Boyens overheard two security guards discussing the star system's lack of mobile units to defend them. Boyens then simply responded in a matter of fact tone to the Guards "then just get some". This surprised the guards who responded that they didn't have enough money to buy any ships and it would take a while to build a few, Boyens then responded that there were crews on warships that were willing to mutiny and defect if Ulindi could provide safety for their families; all they would need to do is send agents out to look for prospective ships and crews willing to defect.
Jason's project succeeded better and sooner than expected: thanks to that, during the Fourth Battle of Midway Boyens showed up with a single Heavy Cruiser and two Light Cruisers recently defected to Ulindi, to help defend Midway against a syndicate surprise attack. After the battle he returned to Ulindi with the three warships under his command, and President Iceni speculated he would probably be running Ulindi in a few years. The fact that, so soon after his arrival to Ulindi, its authorities allowed him to command all their new warships suggests than he had already some authority in the system.
Characteristics[]
Jason Boyens is self described as someone who will work the angles of a situation to get himself into some sort of position of power, when President Iceni released him to go help rebuild Ulindi he knew that Midway would be the senior partner in any relationship between the two star systems and stated that he could work with that.
One of the shuttle pilots at Ulindi described him as a decent person for a CEO. Boyens thought to himself that as a general rule he tried to leave behind as few enemies as possible. That makes him an atypical Syndic CEO, but also a very clever survivor, capable to survive and adapt to almost any situation, as his career proved. In fact, Boyens only typical CEO feature was his great ambition.
Relationships[]
John Geary[]
Boyens' relationship with Geary wasn't a easy one, specially with Geary's bad previous experiences with Syndic CEOs, and Jason didn't help to make it better with his Syndic habit of withholding information and sharing it selectively, to manipulate the Fleet Admiral. However, Boyens relative sincerity and honorable behaviour make Geary to worry about what will happen with him after returning with the Syndicate, and after returning Midway, John asked Iceni about what happened to him. Later, Gwen pointed at Jason that "even Black Jack saw something good in you".