Hank Randall

Hank Randall was born in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, United States on Earth in 2167 CE. His father was a Rear Admiral in the United Nations Naval Forces, and his mother was a Professor of Spacecraft Design at Harvard University. As his father was assigned to inspect various orbital installations and spaceships throughout the Sol System, Randall's early years involved considerable amounts of space travel. To pass the time on week- or month-long voyages, he watched 20th-century science fiction television shows like Superman and Star Trek, envisioning a more fantastical reality than the one he lived in.

It was clear from the earliest days in school that Hank Randall was a child prodigy. Aided by his parents and tutors, Randall was able to skip over a significant portion of his early schooling, graduating in 2181 CE at the age of fourteen. By age sixteen, he had graduated with a double degree in spacecraft engineering and particle physics, and had begun working on his doctorate. In 2186 CE, amidst numerous offers from universities and corporations, he was invited to join the United Nations Space Research Laboratory, which he accepted. However, he quickly found that the other researchers at the UNSRL, despite all being fantastically intelligent, were highly egotistical and had issues working together.

It was at the UNSRL that Dr. Randall discovered he had a natural talent for management, particularly of groups of highly egotistical scientists. He quickly rose through the ranks of management, and at age 25, was the head of the entire laboratory. Dr. Randall was able to focus the efforts of his scientists into specific goals, achieving tangible results that gave politicians reason to expand their funding. In 2193 CE, scientists at the Tokyo Physics Institute discovered the dimension of subspace, identifying it as a potential avenue for faster-than-light travel. The same day Dr. Randall read the report, he immediately shifted the resources of the entire UNSRL toward finding a way to make a subspace-based FTL system possible.

Together with Dr. Hiyori Saito, the head of research at the Tokyo Physics Institute, Dr. Randall and the UNSRL spent the next five years laser-focused on FTL travel. Although several UNGA representatives threatened to cut their funding, owing to a sudden lack of tangible results, the promise of faster-than-light travel was too much to ignore. Finally, in 2198 CE, the laboratory finished the first working prototype of what came to be known as the Randall-Saito Drive, a first-generation hyper drive capable of moving between stars in mere hours.

The first real test of the drive was aboard a long-distance automated probe, which was sent to the edge of the Sol System to what had been tentatively identified as an entry point to hyperspace. The test was a success, and several days after it vanished into subspace, the probe returned with images of the Alpha Centauri System. Almost instantly, Drs. Randall and Saito were a system-wide phenomena, while the UN and various private entities raced to create the first generation of interstellar ships.

In early 2200 CE, Dr. Randall was offered a position in the Secretary-General's cabinet as Secretary of Science, Research, and Development. He accepted, leaving the position of Director of the UNSRL to Dr. Saito. After serving in the cabinet for fifteen years, he retired from politics, accepting a position with MIT as a professor. He spent most of the rest of his life on Earth, but finally visited the Horizon colony in his first offworld trip in 2235 CE. His final public appearance was in 2250 CE, where he attended the founding of the Galactic Community on Scyldaria. Dr. Hank Randall passed away in 2253 CE at his family home in the BosWash Metropolitan Axis. Following a state funeral attended by both Human and xeno dignitaries, his coffin was launched into deep space from the edge of the Sol System.