President of the Landreich
Born: 2613

Appearances:Action Stations, Fleet Action, Flase Colors
Major Campaigns: Earth Offensive, Baka Kara, Border Worlds Conflict

All information taken from The Definitive guide to the WC Universe Maximillian Kruger was born on an outer colony mining settlement. With an alcoholic for a father and a dreary future on a backwater planet, Kruger looked to an Academy position as a way to get away and build a better life for himself. When the acceptance did not happen, he signed on to the next merchant ship leaving port. He spent the next four years working through the ranks of the Sarn shipping firm, and earned his co-pilot's license by the time he was twenty.

Things were looking pretty good for Kruger, until he killed Haffa Sarn's son while the junior Venela Sarn was assaulting a bar girl. Though it was self-defense Sarn placed a price on Kruger's head, prompting Kruger to leave Gainer's World and take the job as co-pilot of the smuggler ship Phantom. During a Kilrathi attack, the Phantom was badly damaged, and only Kruger survived. As the new owner of the newly named Lazarus, Kruger agreed to give passage to three Confed officers to Gar's Emporium, located on the edge of Confed and Kilrathi space. After taking the Confederation team back safely to the Hell Hole System, Kruger was drafted into the Landreich militia by President Johann Blucher, and placed in command of a Landreich frigate, to stand against a Kilrathi strike force pushing through the (then) Yarni Sector. Though losses for the Landreich were high, the capital on Hellhole was successfully defended; a strike on the Kilrathi operations base on Fawcett's World left Kruger's ship badly damaged, and he had to crash land on Fawcett's World, with only his exec officer for company.

The two spent their stay on Fawcett's World hitting the Imperial forces with commando raids, before finally stealing a Kilrathi frigate and returning to the Landreich as heroes. In an effort to rein in the Landreich and tighten control, Confed sent the heavy cruiser TCS San Jacinto to act as the flagship for a Home Guard Fleet, composed primarily of Landreich militia ships. Kruger was placed under the command of a Captain Vance Richards, but soon lost patience with the Confed officer's strict by-the-book command style, and led a mutiny among the Landreichers, hijacking the San Jacinto. After throwing the Confederation officers out, the Landreichers took the ship deep into Kilrathi territory to raid the Fawcett's World base. After three years, the base that had so long plagued the Landreich was finally destroyed.

Kruger returned home a hero once more, but was now also charged with a host of crimes by the Terran Confederation. This sparked a bloodless coup which expelled the Confederation government from the Landreich, and placed Kruger as the new President of the Free Republic of Landreich. The Landreich's declaration of independence started other frontier worlds joining the Landreich as well, as it became increasingly clear that Confed was neither able or willing to protect them. Kruger continued to preside over the growing Landreich, and though he was still a fugitive from the Confederation, an unspoken agreement developed between the two governments to largely ignore the existence of the other. Kruger remained President of the Landreich through a number of crises, including the Battle of Landreich, the Battle of Earth, and the Baka Kar Insurrection. He later helped to merge the Free Republic of Landreich and the Grovsner Colonies, along with a number of other frontier colony groups, to form the Union of Border Worlds.

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