Keene Barron (D5)

Keene Barron is a Ministry of Intelligence (MoI) officer from the Battlestar Hermes series. He first makes an appearance in the story Ride of the Valkyrie along with Galit Malka. His first appearance in the Hermes saga is during Battlestar Hermes: Faststar.

Early Life
Keene was born on Leonis thirty three years before the destruction of the Twelve Colonies. He attended the Leo Grammar School for much of his education and indeed his early life since his parents were both involved in the Colonial Diplomatic Corps and as such were rarely in one place for any length of time. Keene was an uncommonly bright and apt student excelling in both sports and his studies although he rarely received the recognition from his parents that he so desperately craved. In a bid for attention he bacame the school's greatest prankster and using his high intelligence he created some quite memorable scenes during his time there.

Military Career
Upon leaving full time education Keene opted for a career in the military and joined up as a Marine Officer. During his five year service he became known for having a rather aggresive style of leadership and once disobeyed orders from his superiors during a training mission to prove that his Company Commander was incompetent in the field. The incident almost ended his career but it proved his point. His youthful features earned him the nickname 'Lieutenant Babyface' and whenever he was on leave he would grow a beard to help stem this trend.

During his time in the Marines he spent five months in the Demeter Jungle on Scorpia fighting the so-called Green Army, a militant environmental group opposed to the deforestation of Scorpia's jungles.

Recruitment to the MoI
Like most of its agents Barron never sought to join the organization's ranks but rather was recruited by them. He left the Marines to join and lead an MoI Armed Response Unit (ARU) and was involved in several high profile arrests. His time leading the ARU often took him to Sagittaron as the Sagittaron Liberation Army (SLA) was at this time beginning to become a real problem for the Colonial government.

Rescuing the President's Sister and Niece
His time leading the ARU made him an ideal candidate to join Scott Tolan's mission to rescue President Adar's sister and niece when they were abducted by the SLA. During the mission he served primarily in a peripheral capacity being subordiante to the young and upcoming Field Agent Lieutenant Galit Malka. It was also during this time that he first met Artimus Bowman. Following the mission he was ordered to keep quiet about the fact that Galit Malka had survived the bombing of the SLA base although he didn't quite understand why.

Years leading upto The Fall
Barron remained beside Galit Malka in the following years and assisted her during the failed assassination attempt on Lydia Zeresi, head of the Basileus Crime Syndicate. One year before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies Barron agreed to serve onboard the MoI's only Tiger-class Faststar as Malka's Executive Officer. Understandably the exploits of this illegal vessel are open to speculation.

Family Life
Three years before The Fall of the Twelve Colonies Barron met and fell in love with Anastasia Muller. Muller was in an abusive relationship at the time and angered by the harsh treatment she was receiving from her partner Barron assaulted him in a bar on Picon. He very nearly faced criminal action if it were not for the intervention of Malka who by then had become quite influential within the MoI. Following his release from Police custody Anastasia left her partner and married Barron. By the time of The Fall they had a one year old daughter, Kassandra Barron.

Death
''Keene Barron at the end of Battlestar Hermes: Faststar is killed along with Artimus Bowman. ''