Michael R. Falkner

Major Michael R. Falkner is a character in Earth 2160.

Michael Falkner during a cutscene

Biography

Pre-2160

Before the events of Earth 2160, Falkner was stationed on Titan, where he was supposed to keep watch over a group of exiles. Just when he feared he'd be stuck on the barren moon for the rest of his life, something completely unexpected happened -- LC forces attacked the ED troops, in an effort to mine the moon's natural resources. At this time, Falkner was in command of a small garrison on Titan. He received the command to pull back with his men - but to kill all the prisoners in a nearby labor camp first. Michael succeeded in capturing an LC ship and pressing home a hugely destructive attack against the Lunar Corporation. Thanks to this attack, the LC believed that they had underestimated ED strength on Titan - and while they were working out a plan to defeat this surprisingly strong enemy, Falkner, with his handful of men, succeeded in harrying the LC so much that the ED reinforcements had all the time in the world to defeat the LC completely.

After this stroke of tactical genius, Falkner was ordered back to Mars. Shortly after this, he was given a special mission on Cydonia. He was commanded to put down the uprising there, using all military means at his disposal. Instead of obeying this command to the letter, he managed to end the rebellion with no bloodshed and to come to peaceful terms with the settlers there. The rebel settlers laid down their weapons and freed all their hostages, including a certain General Robert Taggart, Falkner's mentor-to-be. The ED bigwigs however, did not honor the cease-fire agreement that Falkner had so painstakingly worked out and the rebel leader was captured and executed. That was indeed a bitter blow for Michael Falkner - he had given his word to the rebels. You could say that this was the last straw for him - his last illusory bubble burst and this cruel injustice of his superiors' inflamed his inborn sense of right and wrong - enough was enough... the shards of any positive hopes he may have harbored about the new ED leadership now lay scattered around him - and apart from the changes that this incident wrought on him, the Cydonia story had other, far-reaching consequences for Falkner.

His erstwhile commanding officer, Colonel Rifkin, now made it his life's work to hang a courtmartial on Falkner for refusal to obey orders. After all, thought Rifkin, Falkner had brought about a peaceful conclusion to the conflict without the knowledge and the approval of his superiors. And the wily Rifkin succeeded...Falkner was indeed court-martialed. The case against him was dropped however, because General Taggart, recently liberated by Falkner from the hostage camp, spoke up for him - and this wouldn't be the last time that General Taggart would save his protégé’s bacon from the hostile actions of the ED high-ups - or from the consequences of Falkner's own unrestrained conduct. It was lucky for Falkner that he was now under the direct command of General Taggart himself.

Earth 2160 campaign

Falkner appears throughout all four campaigns in Earth 2160.

In the ED campaign, he leads the ED's invasion of Mars. He is sent to several planets to destroy LC outposts or defend ED bases. He also inspects Fox Five, a base with which all contact was lost. The only survivor he finds is Professor Van Troff ... and a bunch of strange creatures. After rescuing the professor, the entire area is sterilized with a nuclear weapon. He returns to Mars, where another base has severed all contact. Upon reaching the base, he finds several infected soldiers, and more of the same creatures he found on Fox Five. General instructs him to negotiate a three day cease-fire with the local LC commander -- Ariah. After destroying all Aliens in the LC base and negotiating the cease-fire, Falkner is sent to another ED base on Mars. After arriving there, he learns that his mentor and friend, Robert Taggart, has comitted suicide (though it is obvious he was killed under order from Colonel Greg Rifkin). He is ambushed by LC forces in the area and is ordered to destroy the nearby Alien nest. After completing his assignments, Colonel Rifkin expresses his dissapointment that Falkner didn't die during the battle, and imprisons him for treason.

He reappears near the end of the LC campaign, when Ariah (who has gone rogue at this time) frees him and Liu Han from their cells. They form a plan to travel to a mysterious planet called Eden. To do so, they need to destroy the ED's orbital cannon guarding the space portal which will take them to Eden. But since this cannon destroys all landing ships, they can't reachit -- but a small robot, hidden during a meteor storm, can. This robot is found aboard The Phoenix, the UCS evacuation ship, after Falkner destroyed the shield generator which blocked access to the ship.

He leads most missions during the UCS campaign as well, batteling the Aliens on Eden so humanity can colonize the Earth-like planet. But he hadn't counted on the plans of professor Van Troff, who turned himslef into an Alien during the LC campaign and leads the Aliens. Van Troff wishes to capture him and to make him his commander in the field. At the neds of the last UCS mission, Falkner is surrounded by a humongeous Alien Fleet -- resistance is impossible.

During the Alien campaign he (now transformed into an Alien) serves Van Troff, destroying UCS, ED and LC bases all around the solar system. Van Troff is delighted with his new Commander, but dissapointed when Falker fails to capture Ariah. His dissapointment turns into frustration when Falkner contacts him to report minor advancement -- despite Van Troff intructing him to do so. In the last mission, Van Troff is so frustrated with his commander that he gives him only a handful of forces (and no Replicatorus or other air ships) to destroy an alliance of all three human races. Eventually Falkner is freed from Van Troff's mental conditioning when he refuses to kill unarmed civilians, and even kills his former master and his troops. He also kills his old arch-enemy, Colonel Rifkin, who betrayed the human alliance and had became an Alien, like Falkner himself.

He is last seen aboard The Phoenix, discussing with Ariah about the origin of the Aliens. Their discussion is interrupted when an unknown object comes through the Space Portal. What happens to him after this is currently unknown.

Quotes

• Hell's Bells!
• There's the baddies boys!
• Ouch! Got me!
• If the GPU's involved in this, I'm worried already.
• Are they insane?!

Gallery

Falkner surrounded by Van Troff's air fleet.

His appearance after the transformation.