Adrian Kelso (D26)

Although his name later became familiar to many military scholars of the First Cylon War, the early life of Adrian Kelso was not one that earmarked him as a person slated to carve out a place in history.

Early Life

Born on Aerilon near Gaoth, one of the few major cities, to Joachim and Allana Kelso, low-level civil servants in the Aerilon government, young Adrian was spared many of the harsher rigors associated with the colony's predominantly agrarian farm culture. Nevertheless, even as a young boy he frequently enjoyed taking trips out to his maternal uncle's farm amid the rolling hills and countryside, there experiencing the full breadth of an outdoor lifestyle.

In the wake of the second Tauron uprising, Adrian Kelso's parents imigrated to the beleagured colony in response to the need for social workers to aid in the care and resettlement of numerous orphans and displaced communities. Ripped from the comparitively sedate and tight-knit community he had known since birth, Adrian soon found himself face-to-face with the sobering realities of a society on the teetering edge of perpetual civil war.

As an 'outsider', Adrian very quickly found himself in position of having to more-or-less prove himself to his peers, a situation that often involved having to display some measure of 'physical toughness'. During one particularly brutal encounter with a group of teens three years his senior, young Adrian Kelso suffered serious injuries that required a brief period of hospitalization but nevertheless demonstrated a resolute refusal to back-down that would continue to manifest in his character for the rest of his life.

In spite of the frequent conflicts with his peers, Adrian Kelso was nevertheless a high-achiever scholastically, though he was always quick to point out that mathematics was his least favored subject. Upon graduation from High School, Adrian recieved a minor scholastic scholarship to the Tauron Institure of Technology and Science. Although the institution was known predominantly for its technical sciences, the majority of Adrian's early studies focused on the life-science, criminal justice and history fields. As graduation neared, Adrian Kelso soon began considering his career options. Having grown up amid the chaos that was the aftermath of the Tauron uprising, Adrian felt a calling and began looking into the possibility of becoming police officer in spite of the poor reputation for corruption that most law enforcement agencies on Tauron had at the time.

But it was during this pivitol moment that the fates seemed to intervene.

First Cylon War

Soon after graduation, the First Cylon War erupted across the Twelve Colonies. Taking up a commission in the newly formed Colonial Fleet, Adrian Kelso's service jacket soon began to accumulate a number of commendations and citations for his steadfast attention to duty and creative thinking. Rising quickly through the ranks, Adrian Kelso's consistently demonstrated fitness for duty and strong personal character, marking him as a strong combat leader who was able to garner the respect and confidence of subordinates.

By the end of the conflict, Adrian Kelso had risen to the rank of Commander and was appointed commanding officer of the Battlestar Pacifica, an appointment that initially raised eyebrows amongst some of the Admiralty considering his lack of experience as a fighter pilot. Nevertheless, Commander Adrian Kelso's fitness for the position was soon to be demonstrated in one of the fiercest engagements of the war, the Battle of Libran.

See: WSG 1