Editing Nicholas Fisk

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| name                = Nicholas Fisk
| birthdate           = 
| died                = 
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Fisk]]
| rank                = 
| title               = [[Count of Odessa]]
| position            = 
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = [[Luther Fisk]]<ref name=CoDc4>''Call of Duty'', ch. 4</ref><br>[[Leon Fisk]]
}}
'''Nicholas Francis Fisk''' was the [[Count of Odessa]] in the mid 3060s.<ref name=MoaHp49>''Measure of a Hero'', p. 49 (BattleCorps PDF edition)</ref>

==History==
===FedCom Civil War===
His actions along the ones of various other members of the [[House Fisk]] family during the [[FedCom Civil War]] resulted in [[Odessa III]] being largely stripped of defenses.<ref name="JHS:3076p13">''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. 13: "Odessa: How?"</ref> 

The first knwon acts of the Count happened when his son Luther was court-martialed by killing [[Andrea Christifori]]. Despite the fact he was found guilty, he asked favors to Archon [[Katherine Steiner-Davion]], which amnistied him. However, thar caused the brother of Andrea, [[Archer Christifori]] to take the arms, which resulted in Luther returning home defeated and crippled.<ref>''Measure of a Hero'' ch. 7-Epilogue</ref>

Nicholas Fisk was still Odessa's planetary ruler when the war erupted and the mercenary unit [[Snord's Irregulars]] were deployed on the world under contract to the [[Lyran Alliance]]; as the terms of the Irregulars contract excluded combat in a Civil War, the Irregulars hoped to ride out the conflict without being drawn in, but Count Fisk was determined to manipulate the Irregulars into signing a new contract with the Alliance that would see them fighting in support of the Loyalist cause and Katherine's.<ref name="FCCWp67">''FedCom Civil War'', pp. 67–68: "Odessa"</ref>

[[Victor Steiner-Davion]] was keen to gain the support of the elite Irregulars and dispatched a trusted officer - [[General]] Christofiri and the [[Thorin FTM]] - to negotiate with the Irregulars. The Thorin FTM had been fighting a campaign throughout the core-spinward region of the Lyran Alliance for some time under the command of General Christifori, earning themselves the nickname "Archer's Avengers" as a result, and were dispatched to Odessa from the nearby world of [[Alcor]].<ref name="FCCWp67"/>

Meanwhile, Count Fisk had hired a mercenary unit named [[Wolverton's Highlanders]] - notionally a part of the [[Blackstone Highlanders]] - as a means of influencing the Irregulars. General Christifori and the Thorin FTM landed without incident and began negotiations with [[Colonel]] [[Rhonda Snord]], with both agreeing to meet and conduct negotiations face to face; Fisk arranged to sabotage these talks by having elements of Wolverton's Highlanders disguise themselves as elements of either the Irregulars or the FTM and then used these cat's paws to ambush General Christifori and Colonel Snord en route to their meeting on the 16th of April [[3063]]. Fisk's gambit was successful - led by Colonel [[Robert Feehan]], the Highlanders forces ambushed both leaders, leaving Colonel Snord comatose and [[Natasha Snord]] leading the Irregulars in her mother's place while both the FTM and the Irregulars attacked each other in retaliation for what they perceived as treachery.<ref name="FCCWp67"/>

The Irregulars soon found themselves under siege in the ruined remains of the city of Bealton and in need of rescue. At this point, Fisk had the Wolverton Highlanders "arrive" on Odessa and arranged an offer of aid to the Irregulars, dependent upon the Irregulars signing a new contract to follow their old, this time without the codicil that would allow them to sit out the Civil War. Unfortunately for Fisk, his plans were ruined when the Avengers captured the Lyran Alliance agent attached to the Highlanders and discovered the [[BattleMech]]s in false colors that the Highlanders had used to ambush the two leaders. General Christifori made this information freely available to the Irregulars, and with Colonel Rhonda Snord having regained consciousness on the 2nd of May, both units became allies.<ref name="FCCWp67"/>

The FTM and the Irregulars soon outmatched the Highlanders; by the time the two allied units had finished their campaign against the Highlanders Count Fisk had been captured and interned in a prisoner of war camp. Colonel Feehan was captured and transported to [[Outreach]], where a trial in front of the MRBC and [[Wolf's Dragoons]] saw him stripped of his command and the Highlanders' rating reduced to such an extent that the unit found itself unemployable.<ref name="FCCWp67"/>

====The Jihad====
After the Civil War Nicholas Fisk received a pardon from Victor Steiner-Davion and was restored to power, although he disinherited his elder son, [[Luther Fisk]]. With the defenses on Odessa sharply reduced following the Civil War and with a poor reputation that made hiring mercenaries unlikely, Odessa was forced to upgrade its planetary defenses. The younger son of Count Nicholas Fisk, [[Leon Fisk]], was installed as commander of the Planetary Guard in [[3072]] on his twenty-third birthday, and would play a key part in rebuilding the planetary defenses.<ref name="JHS:3076p13"/>

Evidence assembled in [[3075]] after the discovery of the [[Word of Blake|Blakist]] facilities near Odessa IV indicated that Count Nicholas Fisk had actively colluded with the Blakists, but that there was no true Blakist presence on Odessa III itself; instead, the Blakists had exercised influence and control through various shell companies active in the fields of agriculture or heavy machinery. The Count's records indicated numerous meetings and kickbacks associated with these companies, demonstrating that the Word of Blake had effectively ruled Odessa III through its control over the corrupt and greedy Count. It was also revealed that while the [[ComStar]] physical presence on Odessa III had historically been limited to the fortified compound containing the [[HPG]] station within the city of New Bealton, ComStar had effectively been controlling the planetary government through similar means to that of the Blakists since the initial rebuilding efforts in the wake of the First Succession War.<ref name="JHS:3076p13"/>

An enforced quarantine was established in the Odessa system in February 3075 as a result of the plague outbreaks that continued to erupt after the Word of Blake poisoning of the world the year before.<ref name="JHS:Tp14">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 14: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref><ref name="J:FRp53">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 53: "The Jihad in Review"</ref> Any ships arriving in the system were subject to boarding and search operations. Any ship that landed on the world would be destroyed. The entire population was infected with the virulent contagion released by the Word of Blake, which explains these drastic measures.<ref name="JHS3076p36">''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. 36: "Notice to Shipping"</ref> In May, [[Clan Ghost Bear]] naval elements, including a ''[[Leviathan (Individual Leviathan-class WarShip)|Leviathan]]'', arrived in the Odessa system and drove the Blakists out of the system.<ref name="JHS:3076p37">''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. 37</ref>

==Notes==
In the novel ''[[Measure of a Hero]]'' Count Fisk named as both Francis and Nicholas at different points in the book. The following novel ''[[Call of Duty]]'' names him Count Nicholas Francis Fisk.

== References ==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Call of Duty]]'' (novel)
* ''[[FedCom Civil War (sourcebook)|FedCom Civil War]]'' (sourcebook)
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: 3076]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: Terra]]''
* ''[[Measure of a Hero]]'' (novel)


[[Category:Lyran Commonwealth Characters|Fisk, Nicholas]]