Kenneth Donnelly

From FABT

Kenneth "Ken" Donnelly
KenDonnelly.png
Biological information

Born:

15 August 2159 CE
Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland, European Union, Earth

Died:

21 March 2253 CE
TMCS Temperate Martyr, docked with Titan

Physical information

Species:

Human

Gender:

Male

Height:

6.7ft

Hair:

Dark brown

Eyes:

Dark green

Political and military information

Affiliation:

Equipment:

  • Standard issue Alliance Navy uniform (when part of the Alliance)
  • Standard issue Cerberus uniform (when part of Cerberus)
  • Standard issue Coalition Navy uniform (when part of the Coalition)
  • Omni-Tool

Rank(s):

Power Engineer

Era:

Asari Cycle
Pax Galactica Era
Human Cycle
Reformation Era
Dominion Era

Battle(s):

 
"We're off to kick the Collectors right in their daddy bags. That's enough for me."
— Kenneth on his motivations for joining Cerberus.

Power Engineer Kenneth Donnelly, often nicknamed Ken, was an engineer in the Systems Alliance Navy (and later the Systems Coalition Navy) and Cerberus Navy, and a brief member of Cerberus. Born in Scotland within the European Union on Earth, Kenneth was incredibly intelligent and technically proficient, eager to impress his peers with his knowledge while also possessing a can-do, verbose attitude towards his work. When he was 18 he received a scholarship from the Neptune Academy of Engineering and Technology which he happily accepted: it was here that he met and befriended a fellow student, Gabriella Daniels, who would soon become his best friend for the duration of the time they spent at the Academy, both of them going on to graduate summa cum laude at the top of their class. Prior to graduating, both had decided to sign up with the Alliance Navy as engineers, and upon doing so they were assigned to the light cruiser Perugia. During his service on the Perugia, Kenneth's performance was described by Captain Solomakhin Savelievich as "excellent, ignoring issues with authority", describing Kenneth as a talented, even brilliant, engineer, but his wise-cracking demeanor and tendency to impertinency would earn him a few reprimands. Kenneth would continue to serve on the Perugia right into the Eden Prime War, participating in the Battle of Armstrong and later during the conclusive Battle of the Citadel in 2183 CE. Shortly after the battle, Kenneth became an avid supporter of Commander Shepard and his claims regarding the imminent Reaper threat, having seen first hand as the Fifth Fleet suffered heavy losses at the hands of Sovereign. As such, Kenneth was outspoken against the coverup by the Citadel Council and the Alliance of the Reaper issue following Shepard's sudden demise a month after the battle, and became highly critical of the Alliance's leadership, becoming combative and disagreeable with his superiors until he was severely reprimanded in September 2183 CE and placed on unpaid leave. Gabriella, unwilling to serve without her friend and agreeing his sentiments, grew fed up with the Alliance and took a paid sabbatical.

Kenneth's insubordination caught the attention of Cerberus, who subsequently offered him a place in their organization, with an opportunity to take the fight to the Reapers and eventually serve under Commander Shepard, who they were attempting to bring back to life. Whilst skeptical of the latter claim, Kenneth was fed up with the Alliance's unwillingness to act and accepted Cerberus' offer, insisting it included Gabriella, which Cerberus agreed to. Both were assigned to Project Avenger to assist with the installation of the Normandy SR-2's improved Tantalus drive core, and when the ship was officially launched in 2185 CE, they joined the ship's crew as engineering staff, later placed under the command of Tali'Zorah when she was assigned as the ship's chief engineer. Kenneth would continue to serve on the Normandy throughout the Collector campaign until the ship was attacked and disabled by the Collectors: while Kenneth was one of few crew members who were able to arm themselves and attempt to resist the attack, he was ultimately abducted with the rest of the crew, placed into a pod and taken to the Collector Base where it was planned to melt him down and use him as organic matter to build the Human-Reaper with the rest of the captured crew. However, the Normandy Squad arrived and assaulted the Base in time to stop this, rescuing Kenneth along with the rest of the crew. Kenneth would later join the rest of the crew in defecting from Cerberus to join Shepard in going rogue, and continued to serve on the Normandy right up until the Bahak Incident, after which Shepard decided to turn himself into the Alliance along with the ship. Gabriella decided to turn herself in as well, and Kenneth agreed to go with her, both of them being arrested and taken into custody by navy military police to be interrogated. Charged with treason for working with Cerberus, Kenneth and his friend only narrowly escaped trial thanks to the intervention of Steven Hackett, who had the charges dropped due to a plea agreement Shepard accepted to take full responsibility. Regardless, Kenneth was barred from Alliance service and formally discharged along with Gabriella, and the two of them left for the Citadel, not knowing what to do. Shortly after, the Reaper War began and Earth fell, and Shepard would use his Spectre clearance to have Kenneth and his friend fully reinstated and assigned to the Normandy as its engineers again, this time under Chief Engineer Gregory Adams.

Kenneth would continue to serve on the Normandy throughout the Reaper War, at which time his friendship with Gabriella finally escalated into a romantic one, as she called him out for his sexist comments towards other women and that it was chauvinistic cowardice in order to avoid telling her how he actually felt. He proceeded to protect Gabriella during a Cerberus attack on the Normandy towards the end of the war, and helped EDI get her systems back online so she could fully retake control of the ship and help it escape the Cerberus ambush. Kenneth would survive the final battle over Earth and the subsequent crash of the Normandy, returning to Earth with Gabriella pending reassignment after the war: during this time, he proposed to and became engaged to Gabriella, and they were married shortly after. In 2192 CE, Kenneth and his wife were picked by Tali'Shepard to serve as engineering staff for the RNS Revengeance, where he would serve throughout the Border War and Post-Apocalyptic War until the ship's capture by the Krogan Confederacy, where he was held captive on Tuchanka until the end of the conflict where he was released. Kenneth and his wife would continue to serve on the Revengeance until 2237 CE, at which point he retired from the military, along with Gabriella. With the outbreak of the Dominion Civil War in late 2252 CE, Kenneth and Gabriella came out of retirement to join their second-time resurrected commander, Shepard, in rebelling against the Galactic Dominion and joined the Dominion Dissident Front, serving again on the Revengeance for a month before transferring to Urdnot Wrex's flagship, the TMCS Temperate Martyr. Kenneth would be present on the Temperate Martyr during its visit to Titan to treat with the Anointed Prophet of the Titan Covenant to establish a peace: instead, the DDF diplomats were caught in an ambush and murdered, with the Temperate Martyr destroyed shortly after by Titan's external plasma cannons, and Kenneth was killed in the process.

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