Summary

Full name: Patrick William Higgs
Nicknames: Billy, Greybeard
Sex & Gender: cis-male (he/him)
Birthyear: 1988
Height: 1.85m (6'1")
Species: Human / Werewolf
Occupation: military officer
Sexual identity: heterosexual
Character: introvert, confident, disciplined, diplomatic, optimistic, sociable, serious, stubborn, control-freak.
Likes: His wolf form, Magic, Night shifts, Losing control, People disrespecting his crew
Dislikes: Holding up their serious mask too long, technology problems, being alone, handling weapons

Character

Patrick Higgs was born on the isle of Skye in Scotland. From his youth, he was always fascinated by the sea, and his father taught him sailing at a young age. He loved being on the water, the wind going through his hair, bouncing on the waves. His parents had no doubt their son would seek a career working on boats. Patrick was very motivated to join the Royal Navy and went through the tough recruitment program, but managed to get accepted in the navy. Throughout the years he has worked himself up to the rank of captain, and was put in charge of the HMS Albion in 2031.

However, Patrick had a secret only very few people knew about him: he was a werewolf. Though he can transform into a wolf at free will, during the full moon, he would lose his mind when he is in wolf form, and the only way to prevent that from happening is to transform willingly into a wolf regularly during the rest of the month, so that at full moon there's not enough potential to force him to transform into a wolf. He usually transforms into a wolf four or five times per month in bed, where nobody sees him (except for the occasional officer he shared his quarter with, who's in on the secret). This is how he kept his wolf side under control, and his secret hidden. It's also the main reason why Patrick isn't fond of magic, as it has caused him more trouble than it's worth.

2032 marked the start of what would grow out to be a world wide war that would later be known as the Wellspring War. Although the UK wasn't directly involved at first, Patrick had to help a lot on support missions, but as time went on, the battles became more intense and the stress was getting worse, until worldwide disaster struck when several Wellsprings cracked and all hell broke loose. After the disaster that followed, his ship became essential in aiding supplies to the territories that were most affected by it. He has faced a great deal of destruction, but also hope when the aliens arrived at Earth and welcomed them to the Galactic community, and promised them to help them with the reconstruction.

His efforts didn't go unnoticed. He was being approached by the newly formed Terran Starfleet. They needed an experienced military officer to take command of one of the new ships, the Pioneer. He accepted the job, but was displeased that the Admiralty didn't mention this ship was full of "rejects", and even aliens on board. Nonetheless, he did his best to lead the ship, and found that his crew was actually very capable. He gained a lot of mutual respect from his crew, and was also an essential player in fighting for Holly's rights to be recognised as a sentient lifeform. Unfortunately, on one of his away missions, he would lose it all; he was telepathically violated on a mission, and the barrier between his human side and wolf side was broken. He was sent to a facility on Terra to recover, and this was the end of his four-year captaincy of the Pioneer. Most crew members thought the aliens messed up his mind, but Dr Suzanne Gadovnik, and counselor Lydia knew better: the wolf in him was fighting for power.

During his recovery, the doctors discovered that this mental barrier couldn't be closed the way it was before. He would have to fight the wolf in his mind constantly in human form, but if he really wanted to hold on to humanity, he had to give up his physical form of humanity, at least for the time being. Since then, Patrick is permanently stuck in his wolf form he doesn't like that much, hoping one day he can find his humanity again. He eventually picked up the captaincy of another ship, the Lorentz, though the Pioneer will always hold a special place in his heart. He wonders if his old crew would recognise him like this...
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It's full moon tonight in Spooktober, and felt appropriate to post it. Here we have the first captain of the Pioneer, and his tragic tale. Hopefully he will return somewhere down the line in the Pioneer story.

UFIS story universe is by  sabrina-taur

Drawn in InkScape