Cliff McLane

	The day that McLane falls in line and starts obeying orders is the day we lose our most valuable officer."
	— Himself

The Rals Cluster Space Patrol has few officers quite like Major Cliff Allister McLane. The maverick commander of the Patrol Ship Orion, he is a friend to his crew and a constant headache for his superiors. In spite of his tendency to disobey direct orders, he is still viewed as one of the Patrol's most valuable members.

Background

To the Stars

McLane was born on Tertius during the height of Killer Kane's rule. Even before the overthrow of Kane by Buck Rogers and his group of freedom fighters, McLane had already begun to fight back against the Rals Cluster Tyrants. Working his way up from acts of civil disobedience, to being a spy and infiltrator, he ultimately managed to steal a ship from Killer Kane's spaceport and escape the planet. His journey then became a planet-hopping adventure, drifting through the cluster from nameless world to nameless world, overthrowing petty local strongmen and generally fighting for freedom and justice. He linked up with a loose network of other like-minded individuals. Eventully, this network would become the basis for the Space Patrol. It was also during this time that he met several future members of his crew.

Captain Video?

Due to the nature of his career during the rebellions, McLane has been proposed as the true identity of the mysterious "Captain Video," an alleged mastermind freedom fighter who sent his undercover agents to help liberate countless worlds. Strangely, McLane has neither confirmed nor denied these rumors, preferring to let them remain mysterious. Those who knew him at the time are equally silent about the truth.

Founding the Space Patrol

The overthrow of Killer Kane and several other prominent tyrants led to an alliance of liberated worlds which, naturally, fully supported the actions of the freedom fighters. It was during this time that McLane was granted the commmand of, and would later lose, Orions I through IV. However, as the number of tyrants slowly dwindled in the cluster, the freedom fighters found progressively less call for their skills. At the same time, the spacelanes between worlds had been left in a state of disarray. It was during this time that a large number of the prominent rebels met together, willingly organizing themselves into the cluster's Space Patrol. Thoughout all of this time, McLane remained a free spirit, repeatedly butting heads with higher-ranked members of the Space Patrol.

SKILLS

Astrogation - Competent Level

McLane is competent at space navigation. While most at home in the Rals cluster, he can get by well enough in the wider galaxy.

Combat - Expert Level

McLane is an excellent shot with all manner of projectile and energy-based weaponry, whether they are hand-held or ship-based.

Leadership - Expert Level

McLane has earned the trust and respect of his own crew despite, or perhaps because of, his tendency to clash with his superiors. His crew know they can trust him to look out for their best interests, and they in turn are highly loyal to him.

Science - Novice Level

McLane has a working knowledge of many different brances of science, from astrobiology and astrophysics through chemistry, electronics, and even psychology. Despite this breadth of knowledge, he is not an expert in any particular scientific field.

Ship Tactical - Competent Level

McLane is familiar with the tactical systems of a wide variety of craft, including many of the Rals Cluster's most common types of saucer- and rocketcraft.

Strategy - Expert Level

A veteran of many incidents and conflicts, McLane has learned how to out-plan and out-think his opponents. He understands how to carefully prepare his crew and ship for any type of mission, as well as how to improvise when they inevitably encounter unexpected problems.

ABILITIES

Spacer's Ingenuity

McLane has a highly cunning and inventive mind, seemingly able to turn even the most dire of situations around. Some might call it luck, but those who know him realize it is simply the mark of a highly original mind coupled with decades' worth of experience in space.

ADVANTAGES

Patrol Ship Orion

McLane has command over the Patrol Ship Orion, a saucer-shaped spacecraft capable of carrying up to twelve people. Due to his distressing tendency to utterly destroy his ships in the line of duty, the Orion has been replaced numerous times over the years, with each incarnation receiving a progressively higher number at the end of its name. Its current incarnation is the Orion VIII.

WEAKNESSES

Reputation

McLane's reputation among the other Space Patrollers precedes him, leading many to assume he is simply an impulsive and hotheaded glory hound who is difficult to deal with.

The following logs feature Cliff McLane: No pages meet these criteria.

Faction Memberships

Character Connections

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