Editing Daniel Peterson

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| name                = Daniel Peterson
| birthdate           = 7 October [[3089]]
| died                = 15 August [[3134]]
| othernames          = Ezekiel Crow<br/>Ritter Michaelson
| affiliation         = [[The Republic of the Sphere]]
| profession          = [[Paladin (rank)|Paladin]] of the [[The Republic of the Sphere|Republic]]
| parents             = [[Michael Peterson]] (father)<br/>[[Celia Stevens]] (mother)
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}

'''Daniel Peterson''' ([[3089]]<ref>''By Temptations and By War'', p. 183</ref> &ndash; [[3134]]<ref>''By Temptations and By War'', p. 282</ref>, aged 45 years), later known as '''Ezekiel Crow''', was a [[Republic of the Sphere]] [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]], [[Paladin (rank)|Paladin]], and traitor.  Crow is described as having brown hair, dark blue eyes, and of being average height and build.  He speaks with no discernible accent and is said to posses an "undeniable presence".<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", pp.57-59</ref>

==Character brief==

===Early Life===
Peterson was raised on Liao in the city of Chang-an.<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", p. 35</ref>  

===Betrayer of Liao===
The most infamous crime in Peterson's life was his participation in the capellan attack of Liao. In 3110, a company of Death Commandos, supplemented by two battalions of the Holdfast Guard landed in the Liao system. They inflicted massive losses on property in the city of Chang-an, killing every soldier or civilian they found. This attack was later known as the "Night of Screams" in the Confederation, while in the Republic of the Sphere it was named the "Massacre of Liao". And the person who help them to land undetected was Daniel Peterson. It appears he doesn't know the capellan intentions, but between the victims, ironically and tragically, were his two fathers. 
After discovering that this had led to his own parents' deaths, he fled the planet and vanished only to be reborn as Ezekiel Crow. The reasons after Peterson's act are unknown, and the circumstances about how he "disappeared" and reappeared as a Ezequiel Crow are a complete mystery, but probably his later master Jacob Bannson was behind.

===Paladin of the Republic===
By the age of forty, the new "Ezekiel Crow" had already led a distinguished career.  He was a graduate of the [[Northwind Military Academy]]; served as [[Planetary Legate]] for the planet of [[Foot Fall]] and led a successful effort against smugglers and terrorists in Prefecture V; he had been decorated with Knighthood; brokered a peace in the Liao Conservatory Rebellion; and finally made a Paladin of the Sphere for his service to the Republic.<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", p. 62</ref>

In November of 3132 Crow was dispatched to the planet of Northwind in Prefecture III.<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", p. 28</ref>  His mission was to bolster and observe defenses on Northwind as the world was considered vital in the protection of Terra.<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", p. 20</ref>

In June of 3133 the Steel Wolves, under the leadership of Galaxy Commander [[Anastasia Kerensky]], would invade Northwind and make an immediate play for the planetary capital of Tara.  Crow would be instrumental in helping Countess [[Tara Campbell]] orchestrate a defense of the planet.  He would become a close confidant of hers and a lover.<ref>''Truth And Shadow'' p. 140</ref>  He and Campbell would meet with Anastasia in a failed negotiation attempt to delay a final confrontation but this only angered Kerensky and precipitated the battle.  Crow fought alongside Northwind's troops in the battle on the Plains of Tara, just north of the capital.  During the fighting he would engage Anastasia Kerensky in his ''[[Blade]]'' until her ''[[Ryoken II]]'' was disabled by a lightning strike.<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", p. 286</ref>Kerensky's defeat helped turn the tide, driving the Steel Wolves off-world.<ref>"A Silence In The Heavens", p. 292</ref>

===Black Paladin===

Among the Paladins, a notable figure is the "Black Paladin", [[Ezekiel Crow]].  As a Paladin of The Republic, he betrayed the very Republic he had sworn to defend a second time, on the planet [[Northwind]]. Countess [[Tara Campbell]] of Northwind and of the [[Northwind Highlanders|Highlanders]], unaware of his intentions, had fallen for him. Shortly after his betrayal on Northwind, he attempted to assassinate Paladin [[Jonah Levin]] on Terra, and interfered with Terra's planetary defense against the [[Steel Wolves]]. His attempt was foiled when Countess Northwind defeated him and destroyed his '[[Mech]]. Unbeknownst to her, he did not die; with Bannson's help, he returned, with a fake identity and the face scarred, to his homeworld of Liao. In an attempt to redeem himself, he ended up on the Republican world of [[Liao]], fighting against a Capellan Confederation assault and died there, refusing to eject from his exploding mech.

===Battlemechs===
The iconic 'Mech Peterson used usually is a light ''[[Blade]]''. At his command, he defeated Anastasia Kerensky,s Ryoken II in Northwind, but his mech was destroyed by Tara Campbell. After returningt to Liao and confessing his real identity, Peterson was assigned to a heavy ''[[Tundra Wolf]]'', as one of the best mechwarriors on the planet, fighting for the republic, but it was critically damaged in combat, and Peterson, who refused to eject, died when his mech blowns.{{cn}}

==Titles and Positions==
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=unknown}}
{{s-title|title=[[Paladin (rank)|Paladin the Republic]]|years=????-[[3133]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Janella Lakewood]]}}
{{s-end}}

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[A Silence in the Heavens]]'' (Nove)
* ''[[Truth and Shadows]]'' (Novel)
* ''[[By Temptations and By War]]'' (Novel)
* ''[http://cf.sarna.net/docs/mwda_dossiers/liao_incursion_24.pdf Ezekiel Crow's Dossier]''

[[Category:Republic of the Sphere Characters|Peterson, Daniel]]