Jack Zheng was a black marketer and owner of the criminal organization, TRIAD, which largely dealt in arms dealing and supplying.
Early Life[]
Jack Zheng was born in the year 2386 on a distant outer colony world called Rhode V, having Chinese and European origins. He lived in a rougher part of town in New Bristol, and had a streak of ambition that would follow and guide him for the rest of his life. Although he lived in a poor district, he aspired to become far more. Taking odd jobs to pay for his college, he studied marketing and economics, and went on to start his own business.
Career[]
"What is a man without ambition? He is nothing, someone who sits on the road, penniless and begging. So I ask you, why should I follow any law if it does not allow me to be free to pursue my ambitions?"
-Jack Zheng explaining his philosophy
An economic slump within the local government caused his business to come crashing down around him. Eventually many of his clients began to leave and he was eventually left homeless and with very meager savings. Having nothing left to lose, he began to turn to illegal activities. He decided to create an arms dealing and smuggling organization. He gathered a crew he thought would be best for the job and used the loans he borrowed to buy a ship to smuggle arms into other star systems, using compartments inside of the ship to hide the arms. In the course of 4-6 months, by 2403, he managed to pay off the loans and start up his company lead by him and his crew under him, later known as TRIAD, or the Traders and Intergalactic Arms Dealers company. The timing of the creation of his company couldn't have been more perfect, starting during the advent of the cold war between the C.C.C. and Helghast, where an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust prospered. There was a huge rise in employment for mercenaries, and the Prime Legion Heaven became one of their first well-known customers, weary from their defeat from the Najenmik and feeling they needed better weapons. They also sold weapons to both the Second Cystern Union and the Kenunstun Consortium.
Within 5 years, Jack Zheng was raking in millions from the business and was far from his poor beginnings. He began establishing hideouts for TRIAD to sell across the colonies, both Helghast and C.C.C. The I.W.C. was deemed "too peaceful" to be profitable for a business of their nature. 8 years after TRIAD was created he even made an underground weapons factory on certain planets they had a larger grasp of, having so much weaponry they began building it themselves. He was nicknamed "The Gunowner" because of the vast amounts of armaments he owned by people who worked for him, as well as the authorities, who had no idea who he was, but knew that he was a threat to society.
Characteristics[]
He often used bribery and intimidation to deal with those who got in his way, and if that didn't work, he was far from hesitant to eliminate or kidnap them as well. To those who know him, he can be very ruthless when he needed to. He was also able to keep his veil of secrecy, with only those closest to him, such as his crew, truly knowing who he was. He is also characterized by others as extremely ambitious, with a drive to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, no matter how it was done. This mentality may have been what caused him to turn to criminal work, as his home planet at the time did not provide many opportunities for legal business. This experience made him believe that almost all places had little opportunity for honest businessmen.