Admiral Leonard “Lenny” BEVELSK REF Spacy

Leonard “Lenny” BEVELSK was in the very last class of combined RDF/REF Cadets; By rights, he probably should have been an RDFer, but a major cheating scandal broke out in his class, and the class had to be re-shuffled quickly. Lenny fell through the gaps.
As a Cadet 2ND Class (Sophomore), Lenny shipped out with UES PIONEER (SDF-003). He was commissioned 2 years later (a year ahead of schedule) as a Ensign in the Supply Office.
It was Ensign BEVELSK’S bad luck that the REF really did watch their supply officers; He had been running ‘small scams’, buying REF uniforms and equipment and then selling them to non-REF personnel. He never sold anything that would compromise the REF in a substantial way (specifically, allowing someone to impersonate an REF’er in and of itself), amidst a larger profiteering scandal, most everyone even marginally involved was rounded up and charged with §108 (Military Property, Wrongful Disposition, “Any person subject to this chapter who, without proper authority... sells or otherwise disposes of... any military property shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”). It was then-Lieutenant (jg) BEVELSK’S good fortune, however, that several investigators and prosecutorial members were either competitors or business partners with him (and some of them both), so they had ‘incentive’ to keep his actions a little more quiet. With this in mind, the charges against him were eventually amended to §133 (Conduct Unbecoming) and §134 (General Provision). He didn’t even try and fight those.

Then Lieutenant (jg) “Lenny” BEVELSK
He was transferred to a Combat Command, Dock Patrol/Security Detachment 312, Boats Division. Lt BEVELSK always thought of himself as a bit of a coward (thus his decision to go Supply), so to the surprise of everyone, especially himself, he discovered he excelled in a combat position.
He also proved to be ‘properly humble’; When he was being awarded the Legion of Merit (with Cluster), he refused to accept it. His reasoning was that his 5-man crew was a team, and if they weren’t getting the same award his 4 shipmates were getting lesser awards), then he didn’t deserve it either. It finally took awarding his subordinates the Legion of Merit (with Cluster) to convince him to take the award himself- Then during the award ceremony, he insisted the awards be handed out in alphabetical order. Frenny (free-knee) ALSHIS (Garuan) come before Leonard BEVELSK, so PS¹ ALSHIS got hers first. Whether his ‘humility’ was a reflection of his near-miss in the Militry Justice system or something else was another matter.
Lt. BEVELSK would latter go on to a second award, and several others, and with a crew (Boats Division, or the ‘Boaties’) who generally loved him. (It didn’t hurt that he was the ring leader of several parties, partly using his contacts in REF HQ Supply, where the alcohol outlasted the party.)
With the close of the Invid Wars, however, the REF was looking to cut back on total personnel, and Lt (jg) BEVELSK had advanced to full Captain. In order to stay in, Captain BEVELSK requested a reduction in rank to Commander (one paygrade down) and “assignment anywhere my skills warrant.” Again, misfortune smiled up Lenny, and he kept his rank- But in his old duties. He was ordered to Hashvan, where the Tiresians had a dock yard/shipyard, and an uncooperative indigenous people. Captain BEVELSK’S mission was to get the yards up and running, however he had to do it.
Many years later it would be revealed, by his own unsolicited confession, how he got the yards up and running, with the overwhelming support of the locals and well ahead of other complexes in the same situation- He bribed the tribal leaders. With their support, the tribes chose not only to support the effort, but in every way possible; This required Lenny to hire their people to work in the yards, which was a good thing for them and his efforts, and the tribal Elders tossed security in at no cost, saving Lenny 50% on his own security expenditures, though he elected to ‘supplement’ the security forces with his own people (a wise move under normal circumstances, though it turned out to be unnecessary- once the Elders say ‘it is so’, their members do it).
Captain BEVELSK’S success with the Hashvan Yards did not go unnoticed; When the Atorian Conflict broke out, he was transferred to the Penbrock Shipyard after it’s capture. Using the same model as before (though this time the bribes went to the local gang and insurgency leaders) he got those yards up and running again. This yard proved a critical staging area and jumping-off point for the REF during the opening stages of the war, plus doubled as an anchorage for POW ships enroute to Mars.
The Penbrock assignment was a test, and Captain BEVELSK passed not with ‘flying’ colors, but SOARING colors.
Promoted to Admiral, BEVELSK was on the short list for the eventual Fehra Martial Law Command (a working name for the Fehran Interdiction Command)- But his history of bribing the locals to get the job done put higher-ups off. (They knew about the bribes, he had specifically checked their views about this before he offered them).
Admiral BEVELSK couldn’t have cared less himself, Fehra held no interest to him. His mistake was to submit a specific letter stating why he shouldn’t be given that command- That his history of bribing local “warlords” (his word) would be counter-productive to the Atorian assignment, and that only a ruthless warlord would suffice.
This wasn’t his undoing- His undoing was to specifically state what such a warlord would have to do to get the job done.
He got his orders later the same day.
His assignment was specific and breathtaking- He was to grind the Ators into the dirt for as long as possible, to break their will any way necessary, to pave the way for an ‘eventual’ replacement who would be much more ‘acceptable’ to the people. He did his job well- Especially since his assignment was only supposed to be 5 years, and got stretched out SEVEN times that to 35 years. Admiral BEVELSK was eligible for retirement two years before the Fehra assignment, and was not happy to be stuck on “the green prison” for nearly half of his total career. (He did understand, however, how critical his assignment was, and accepted the pain quietly- he also practically ran the entire black commodities market for most of that time.)
Admiral BEVELSK was eventually succeeded by General Amanda DAALA, however, who’s mission was to raise the pain threshold 150% over Admiral BEVELSK’S levels. The level of pain she inflicted shocked even Lenny, though he made a killing in the commodities market.
it should also be noted that during his tenure on Fehra, Admiral BEVELSK went through several ‘marriages’ and upon his transfer to the IRR required a full ship of his own to transport all of his ‘children’ and their mothers. There were some doubt about his paternity, but he refused to allow DNA testing on any of the children, and accepted responsibility for them. The average marriage was two weeks. (He was a dirty old man. They were willing. It’s between them.)