The Lost Fleet Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Admiral Bloch was a high-ranking officer within the Alliance, formerly in command of the Alliance Fleet which assaulted the Syndicate home system of Prime. Despite footage showing his death during the First Battle of Prime, Bloch survived and was later rescued by the Alliance and given command of the Defender Fleet. Bloch was regarded by many as more gifted at politics than at strategy or tactics, and his penchant for micromanaging was a constant source of aggravation to his subordinates, particularly his marines.

Background[]

Initial Career[]

There is not much data about Bloch's initial career, but must have survived several battles to achieve his rank. He was an ambitious politician, with good contacts between Alliance's Grand Council. Once, captain Tanya Desjani said he tried to force her to sleep with him, but she rejected him, and even threatened to kill him if he attempted to force another member of her crew. He planned to launch a military coup and proclaim himself Alliance's dictator. Some members of the Council knew that, but he was so powerful than cannot arrest him.

When a Syndicate traitor approached the alliance with the Syndicate's hypernet key, Bloch successfully pushed the Grand Council to launch a surprise attack on Prime. The Council were so desperate to win the war than had to approve his plan. En route to Prime, Bloch's fleet traversed the uninhabited frontier system of Grendel. The fleet's sensors detected a weak energy signature. Fearing it was a Syndic spy ship, they investigated... but discovered the life pod of Captain John "Black Jack" Geary, the legendary hero who had been thought lost in combat at the onset of the war but has supposedly destined to return to life to see the Alliance through to victory. Bloch took this surprise discovery as a divine sign that the mission was sure to succeed and proceeded to Prime with Geary in tow.

Disaster on Prime[]

Fate dictated otherwise as his fleet was ambushed and defeated by a much larger Syndicate fleet. When he realized he had fall into a trap, Bloch ordered at a Marine to execute the traitor. Only a small part of the fleet managed to escape the trap. With his fleet battered and broken Bloch contacted his Syndic counterpart, CEO Shalin, seeking terms of surrender. Shalin demanded that all flag officers in the Alliance Fleet come aboard the Syndic flagship for face-to-face negotiations. Sensing trouble, Bloch placed Captain John Geary in command of the fleet and begged him to get them home. He then departed for the negotiations. Once aboard, the Syndic CEO betrayed the Alliance officers, having all of them, Bloch included, summarily executed in full view of the entire Alliance fleet.

Admiral Bloch had hoped his victory over the Syndics in their own home system would not only end the war, but propel him to political power, likely as a dictator, upon his return to the Alliance with the fleet and a grateful population backing him.  Ironically, though his meticulous plans ended up gaining nothing, his chance encounter with Captain Geary's life pod led to his most inspired decision. Putting his faith in the legend of Back Jack, Bloch officially placed him in command of what was left of the Alliance Fleet until such time as Admiral Bloch returned, before heading off to the Syndicate Worlds Mobile Defense Force stationed in Prime, to discuss terms of surrender, following the catastrophic opening stages of the battle.

Survival and command of Defender Fleet[]

However, despite visual confirmation that Bloch had been executed by the Syndics at Prime, it is later revealed that he was merely taken prisoner. Sometime during Admiral Geary's exploration into alien space, the Syndics, expecting him to cause trouble to the Alliance, freed and returned him there. Once free, he was given command of a newly created fleet: The Defender Fleet, a formation large enough to rival the Alliance First Fleet and with an AI program of John Geary.

In spite of his command, glitches in the AI program cause the Defender Fleet to cause massive destruction to Indras, Atalia and Bhavan and trap Bloch and his command staff aboard the Defender Fleet flagship, a battle cruiser, at the Binary star system of Unity Alternate.

By the time the Alliance First Fleet arrives at Unity Alternate, Bloch's command staff, strongly implied to have ordered to do it by Bloch itself, to try if it was safe, attempted to escape aboard one of the shuttles, which was then destroyed by the Defender Fleet. After the arrival of First Fleet to the system, and have begun the Battle of Unity Alternate, Bloch is able to contact Dauntless, warning him of another threat: as we said, when First Fleet had destroyed the shipyards which will supply and repair the Defender Fleet, Geary had activated the "Armageddon Option" of their programming: so the AI ships will destroy the Alliance Fleet, later attack Unity, assuming it was under enemy hands, and devastate all what they can find, there and in nearby systems, before burning all their energy. Bloch attempted to bargain with Geary; he will provide a distraction to allow Bloch to escape, and in return Bloch will give Geary the co-ordinates to a location in Syndic space that will lead him to the commander of Repulse, Micheal Geary. But the transmission was cut off then, probably by his own ship.

Death[]

In spite of the multiple firing passes that both sides attempt, Bloch does not appear to escape, and is caught aboard the battle cruiser when Unity Alternate's hypernet gate is destroyed to wipe out the Dark Ships. He is presumably killed alongside his fleet.

Later, when investigation were made, no documentation about Bloch's posting at the command of the fleet was found: all was done off the record.

Characteristics[]

Bloch was described as a person very elegant and convincing. His skills as a politician were great, but as military commander, he never proved to be a good officer.

Notes and references[]

Advertisement