Richard Bellegarde was the XO of CS Concordia under Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn.
History[]
He was commissioned in 2629.02 from the OCS. He participated only at the end of the Pilgrim War a fact which in the later years, the older officers he outranked, liked to bug him about.
He was promoted in 2652.10 and put in Naval Ops Adjunct, HQ Command of the Concordia becoming Tolwyn's protégé and Good Right Hand. Tolwyn considered him as a successor.
A lady's man, there were a few times when a scandal would erupt but Richard only narrowly avoided it.[1]
When the news of the attack against the Pegasus Station was heard, Bellegarde reported to Tolwyn that the Terran Confederation fleet was spread out all over their sector and could not catch up with the invading Kilrathi fleet.
The battle group run at 110% on their way to Earth. Bellegard reported that the human homeworld had prepared local defense but it wouldn't be enough. Bellegarde carried out the order to push the speed up to 120%.
While the fleet was hiding near Venus, he reported that Christopher Blair had arrived to the Sol Sector and was transmitting a message with the coordinates of the jump point the Kilrathi would use. Bellegarde insisted that they should aid Blair who was pursued by a Snakeir which would also attack Earth, however Tolwyn ordered to aim at the given coordinates.
When the invasion commenced, Bellegarde reported to Tolwyn that the Kilrathi ships emerge and are destroyed by the Terran ships one after one without being able to warn the following ones. He also reported that the Snakeir following them disappeared from their scanners. He was ordered to launch two CF-117b Rapier wings and a sqadron of CF-131 Broadswords.[2][[CF-
Character[]
Bellegarde loved women, beer and playing cards. He is uncomfortable around children and is allergic to cats.
He was also communicative with the Press and the line Captains, although he did not behave well around Senators and civilian officials.
During the War Bellegard proved to be a god strategist employing his poker-player nerves, and a good player of the strategic waiting-game of offensive inaction. During strategy sessions he concentrated and talked to himself, and then propose a brilliant move. Tolwyn however noted that Bellegard saw the Terran-Kilrathi War as a "us vs them" survival conflict, failing to appreciate Earth and the Terran Confederation as concepts, or to see the long-term ramifications of the War.[1]