Max Eilerson was a successful archaeologist and employee of Interplanetary Expeditions. Growing up on Mars, Max was known as a child prodigy and has a gift for understanding alien languages and technology. Though his smart mouth would often land him in trouble with the school bullies. Though his parents and tutors tried to keep Max isolated from the 'outside world', he nevertheless managed to slip out and wound up in the busy end of town. He had not been there two minutes when he was pick pocketed, losing his wallet, ID and all of his credit chits. [1] [2]
Excalibur
In 2267, Max was the head of an IPX archaeological expedition on Ceti IV in Sector 85 by 4 by 20 when a Drakh cruiser was shot down by the EAS Persephone. After the shuttle he sent to investigate the crash site was shot down, it was decided to hide in the nearby caves and send out a distress signal. Earthforce detected the signal and despatched the Excalibur to secure the site and pick up any survivors. By the time the rescue team arrived, Max had already interpreted the Drakh language from their transmission and helped to question the captured Drakh Captain. At the request of Captain Gideon, Max stayed on as part of the IPX contingent aboard the Excalibur.[3]
While Gideon and Dr Chambers were attending the Earth Alliance Health Organization Plague Eradication Management Strategies Mars Conference, Max went down to Mars for shore leave with Dureena. He again managed to get his pocket picked, though this time Dureena got back his possessions, claiming that she hates to see a sloppy thief win as it reflects badly on the rest of them. Though Max appreciated the effort, he claimed that he didn't need any help and that in future she should let him handle things. No sooner had the words left his mouth when he bumped into a man in a bar, spilling his drink. Dureena gladly left him to deal with it himself, which he does by buying everyone a round of drinks. Later that evening a rather inebriated Max decides to teach Dureena how to dance and to her surprise dose so quite well. While that is going on, Trace is attacked outside the bar. Hearing the commotion Max and Dureena come to his aid. After helping him sober up, he identifies the attacker as Andre Sabot, someone he knew from his Foundationist days.[2]
When the Excalibur came across a derelict alien ship, it fell to Max to decipher their language. He found that the writing in the logs and the writing on the ship didn't match, though he finally cracked the Captain's log, he found out that an alien intelligence had possessed the crew and the captain was forced to kill everyone aboard. Realising that the same thing was happening aboard the Excalibur, he barely made it out of the infected area and had Gideon seal off all the decks, though a security guard Stewart Greenberg was wounded and left brain-dead and paralysed when the infected crew tried to kill Max. Max was greatly affected by the sacrifice of Greenburg, stating that nobody had ever saved his life like that before. Later when the Captain went to meet the possessed people, Eilerson figured out that Gideon wanted them to depressurize the deck, forcing the intelligence back into one person (in this case Mr. Welles) who sought out a crew member in a pressure suit and transferred into him. The crewman was in fact the still living but paralysed body of Greenburg, who Max had suggested be left there as a trap. Still feeling guilty over Greenburg's willing sacrifice, Max asks Dr. Chambers if they did the right thing in using his body like that, wondering if he would have approved. Max draws some comfort form the fact that Greenburg's death save the entire crew and not just Max alone. [4]
Being a company man, Max is often motivated by profit. As such, when the Well of Forever was discovered by the Excalibur in Hyperspace, his first thought was to exploit the massive amount of precious metal and gems laced throughout the structure. His attempt at notifying the company of the discovery was thwarted when Galen erased his data files. However, he was not entirely without a conscience as later that year he chose to hide the discovery of a colony of Dureena's people on Theta 49 from the company, despite pressure from above to start producing profitable results for the company. [5][6]
Appearances
- "Racing the Night"
- "The Needs of Earth"
- "The Memory of War"
- "The Well of Forever"
- "Patterns of the Soul"
- "The Path of Sorrows"
- "Ruling from the Tomb"
- "The Rules of the Game"
- "War Zone"
- "Appearances and Other Deceits"
- "To the Ends of The Earth" (Unfilmed)
- "Value Judgements" (Unfilmed)
- "End of the Line" (Unfilmed)
References
| Main Characters (Crusade) | ||||
| Captain Matthew Gideon • Captain Elizabeth Lochley • Lieutenant John Matheson • Max Eilerson • Galen • Dr. Sarah Chambers • Dureena Nafeel | ||||