Gerard Kurz (died 434 IE) was a field manager for Dasarius Interstellar, specializing in infrastructure projects in high-risk environments. In 420, Kurz assumed a senior position in Dasarius’s latest attempt to pacify Aphrodite by building out the planet’s infrastructure. Cui Yun, aka Suicide, worked under him until 425.
During his time on Aphrodite, Kurz befriended Frederick Ansel. However, over time, he coopted Ansel’s Cubist movement, which the latter hoped would unite the two warring ethnic groups on the planet. Kurz worked new followers into a religious frenzy, creating a radical faction prone to terrorism.
By 434, Kurz had taken over the village of Sumat, driving out the residents and turning it into an armed camp. When Suicide and Mitusko Yamato arrived, he had them taken into custody. While openly musing he could ransom Mitsuko, he found himself facing a defiant Suicide. They would be his “guests” as he wanted Suicide to see something.
After retrieving a giant mech, he secretly traveled to Ares. While Mitsuko had escaped and linked up with the Valles Marineris. So, he took a captive Suicide with him. On Ares, he sabotaged a freight maglev to tie up local emergency services while he attacked the ruins near Boone's Landing to capture its stash of giant mechs. Kurz used the mech to protect a stash of the Gelt suicide toxin created with the aid of Juno. Both the mech and his camp, including a booby-trapped hut containing his stash, was destroyed in a raid led by Yamato. Though his group scattered, he was able to abduct an injured Mitsuko as he fled.
He kept Mitsuko in a cave and decided to hold her hostage. Mitsuko, while unable to resist, did not make a cooperative prisoner, demanding to be fed and allowed to relieve herself. However, at one point, his benefactor summoned him to a nearby clandestine meeting, leaving her alone. She deduced how to escape in his absence. He had to leave to meet with Jez Salamacis. When he discovered Mitsuko gone, he pursued her down the mountain where he had held her, but he was run off by two “true” ALF fighters, Patchi and Keernith Rajani. Working as fishermen, they protected Mitsuko, forcing Kurz to move on to the next phase of his operation.
After Mitsuko’s escape, Kurz fled to Mt. Buxanshal, the tallest and most revered mountain on Aphrodite. There, he intended to make one final statement. However, the Naval presence in orbit tracked him there and sent in a team led by Davra Andraste and including the Rajanis and Mitsuko.
Kurz had stashed a fission weapon in the caldera of Mt. Buxanshal. In a last ditch effort to do some damage, he planned to detonate it, destroying the peak and its Cubist retreat and spreading radioactive fallout over the widest possible area of the planet. Mitsuko Yamato infiltrated his position, dove into the lake, and disarmed the bomb. However, one trigger remained active as she and Kurz fought under the lake’s surface. He died when Mitsuko used him for a human shield as the trigger went off.
Appearances: Suicide Run, Royal Orders