Grand Marshal Sir Henry Leopold Heavenly KCU KCMT KCSM KCGE OV OM (born 8 August 2628) is an Afro-Terran government official and State Security general officer who is the current Minister of State Security. He previously served as Vice Minister from 2681 to 2695, and directed the Republic Security Department, and its predecessor agency the Imperial Security Main Agency, from 2670 to 2681. He is widely viewed as the mentor of prominent State Security leaders Xander Vox and William McGrady.
Prior to his upper-level ministerial service, he was an agent of the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency and a member of the National Volunteer Force of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party. Prior to and during the Great War, he served as a field commissar and commanded a joint special operations unit.
Early life and education[]
Henry Leopold Heavenly was born on August 8th, 2628 to Kwame Emmanuel Heavenly and Jenna Heavenly in the Royal Hospital in Accra, Ghana Province. He is the third of nine children. His father was a customs officer in Accra, and his mother was the daughter of an Ashanti chieftain. In Ashanti local custom, land rights and titles inherit by the female line, and Henry's eldest brother inherited their maternal grandfather's chieftaincy and lands after his death in 2654. His father was an Anglican, while his mother practised the traditional Ashanti religion, and their children were brought up in both faiths.
Henry was privately tutored until age 15, and then attended the prestigious Achimota School from 2643 to 2645. He participated in the school's symphony orchestra as an oboist and graduated in early 2646. He joined the Imperial Navy Coastal Force and attended Officer Candidate School in Accra, graduating with a commission as a Lieutenant Junior Grade, and served for two years in active duty aboard the frigate HMS Veritas. After his active Naval service, he attended the University of Ghana for his undergraduate studies from 2648 to 2652. He attained his BA degree in Public Administration. He held odd jobs during university, and gained a job out of college as a junior customs enforcement officer.
During his time at University, he became acquainted with National Humanism and joined the campus NHILP league. He joined the National Volunteer Force in 2650. He served in the NVF regiment Gold Coast during his time there, and acted as the recruitment secretary to the regimental commander. On the strength of his commander's recommendation, Heavenly was transferred in May 2655 to the Party's central NVF Recruitment Bureau in London, shortly after his discharge from the Navy.
While in London, he attended King's College at the University of London and sought a doctorate in law. He attained his Juris Doctor upon graduation in April 2658.
Paramilitary career[]
While serving in the NVF Recruitment Bureau, Heavenly engaged in political organising in voting wards in London for the local elections in 2660, and the national General Election in 2662. He rose quickly and became an assistant director in the Recruitment Bureau by 2664. The majority victory of the National Humanists in the Parliamentary election saw the increased alignment of the Party paramilitary and security apparatus with the Imperial intelligence and police services. Heavenly enlisted in the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency and was commissioned an officer in 2664.
After discussing the matter with the Director of Recruitment, in early 2665 he submitted a memorandum to the NVF headquarters recommending the recruitment and deployment of joint-service special operations units composed of blended Party-Military-Intelligence personnel to further integrate the institutions and develop an ideologically committed means of fighting alien, criminal, and colonial-insurrectionist threats. He was commissioned in 2665 to head the pilot program of this endeavor, and was sent across Terran space to recruit special forces operators and Imperial Intelligence agents to compose the initial test unit; he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and made the political handler and supervisor of the 9th Special Forces Group, nominally commanded by naval Captain Edward Proctor.
In early September 2665, he hand-picked the first combat team of the 9th SFG and deployed them in the Kojima Incident. The unit foiled the terrorist seizure of an orbital research satellite and neutralized a mutiny organised by Army officer Floyd Ophid. The blazing success saw the 9th SFG expanded to a brigade and its first combat team organized as a battalion-sized Group; the senior officer of the combat team, Céleste Beaumont, was chosen to command the 71st Studies and Observations Group as the premiere strike unit. The 71st SOG was deployed in the Great War in combat operations for sabotage, intelligence gathering, unconventional warfare, and direct action.
At the same time, Heavenly was dispatched by the NVF Headquarters to front-line assignments in the Field Inspectorate. He periodically read reports on the activities of the 9th Joint Special Forces Brigade, but primarily operated between 2666 and 2668 as a political commissar for Army units in battle. He reviewed troops and ensured the political discipline of the officer corps. During his field reviews, he conducted recruitment for the rapidly-expanding joint special operations units under his effective control. After the Battle of Khoz, he recruited William McGrady and Zenzi Rothschild for Imperial Intelligence.
In 2668, he took formal command of the 9th Joint Special Forces Brigade and set about recruiting further agents for the 71st SOG. He contracted a pair of mercenaries and assigned Sergeant Rothschild and Sergeant McGrady to it, while also supervising the detachment of Lieutenant Damien from the unit to found his own SOG within the 9th JSFB. He also departed the NVF Recruitment Bureau to command the brigade full-time, and orient it towards domestic counter-terror operations.
In 2669, his successes brought him to the attention of Frederick Voss, Chief of Imperial Intelligence and Police, who appointed him chief of his personal staff. By this time, Heavenly had groomed William McGrady to succeed him in joint command of the 9th JSFB alongside Colonel Beaumont. Heavenly helped Voss plan out and organize the transition of the many separate Imperial and Party intelligence and security organizations into a single, streamlined department. On 3 November 2670, the Imperial State Security Department was created, and enabled to act as the security service for the entire human Confederation. Heavenly was appointed Deputy Secretary.
State Security career[]
Heavenly and Voss cooperated in the tumultuous early period of the human union to organize the ISSD and turn it into an effective, efficient apparatus for state security. Power was delegated to several directorates: The Strategic Intelligence Agency under Director William McGrady, the Imperial Security Main Agency under Heavenly himself, the Imperial Guard under Xander Vox, and the Domestic Security Agency under Enver Davis. In 2673, the Imperial Guard was merged with elements of the DSA and Vox became head of the Imperial Personal Protection Agency. The various Imperial Police agencies were subordinated to the ISMA under the administration of Bastian MacBeth. The reshuffling balanced the power relations between the main figures of the ISSD.
In 2676, after the creation of the Ministry of State Security, Heavenly was appointed Vice Minister. Heavenly presided over the expansion and organization of the Republic Security Department, the top-level restructuring of the ISMA. The RSD was chartered to investigate political crimes, administer the penal system, conduct domestic surveillance and intelligence gathering, and had sole authority over alien crime and alien internment camps. Heavenly directly managed the RSD but also oversaw the expansion of the Strategic Security Department under General McGrady, increasing the department's funding and size.
In 2681, after the success of State Security agents in ending both the Keystone Incident and the Far Rim Uprising, Heavenly was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross. He also realized that, with the growing expansion of the State Security apparatus, he could not manage the RSD while also overseeing the enlargement of the Strategic Security Forces, and the growing independence of the national Police commissions. He delegated full control over the RSD to General Vox. In 2685, he was highly praised for the satisfactory conclusion of the Pirate War; in the aftermath, the National Police agencies were reorganized as its own department under General MacBeth.
He acted as a patron for the independent investigation into the Galapagos Incident in late 2696, which eventually unveiled a conspiracy by Minister Frederick Voss to attack the government and seize power. Voss was arrested and Heavenly was appointed Acting Minister of State Security. In late December, he was formally sworn in as Minister of State Security.
Summary of career[]
Enlisted in the Imperial Navy Coastal Force on 5 May 2646. Went to Basic Training from 1 June 2646 to 3 August 2646. Attended the Rhode Island Officer Candidate School from 24 August 2646 to 11 December. Commissioned an Officer of the Imperial Navy on 20 December 2646. Assigned to HMS Veritas from 1 January 2647 to 26 December 2648. Assigned to Naval Reserve on 1 January 2649. Honorably discharged from the Imperial Navy on 25 April 2655.
Enlisted in the Imperial Strategic Intelligence Agency on 8 February 2664. Attended Political Training and Leadership Course from 16 May 2664 to 17 June 2664. Commissioned an Officer of Imperial Intelligence on 20 June 2664. Assigned to Party Liaison Unit from 25 June 2664 to 1 August 2665. Assigned to 9th Special Forces Group from 1 August 2665 to 30 October 2665.
Assigned to 9th Joint Special Forces Brigade from 30 October 2665 to 30 October 2669. Conterminously assigned to ISIA Field Inspectorate 14 July 2666 to 1 May 2668. Assigned to ISIA Command Staff from 30 October 2669 to 3 November 2670.
Commissioned a General of State Security. Assigned as Director of Internal Security on 3 November 2670. Assigned as Vice Minister for State Security and as Director-General for Internal Security on 3 February 2676. Relinquished command over Republic Security Department on 1 January 2681.
Sworn in as Minister of State Security on 1 January 2697.