Commander Erik Woden commanded the Fast Attack Corvette Fighting Mongoose in the 74th Solar Century. He was born and raised in a settlement called Black Mesa, in the northern province of Mesaba on the planet Wolf’s Head .
As a youth, he witnessed his brother killed by a woodcat, one of the voracious predators that infest Wolf’s Head. Erik took out his field knife, tracked, and killed the woodcat, nearly being killed himself in the process. The fight left him with scars he never had healed. He skinned the woodcat and for a time wore its hide as a sash. Later, his mother was killed by a Rakshasa that had stalked her right up into the streets of Black Mesa.
At 13, he has already gained a reputation as a dangerous dirt-racer on the tracks around Black Mesa. At 15, he competed in the junior Combat Games (a form of [usually] non-lethal gladiatorial combat) and won championship standing. Two years later, as he was training to compete in the adult Combat Games, he met a Space Ex. Recruiter who was visiting Mesaba province. He signed up and, after competing in the games and winning Champion Standing again, shipped off to the Training Facility on Loki. He would later denounce Space Ex. Training as “a joke” compared to the environment he grew up.
After graduating 10th in a class of 179, he was recruited to the Fast Attack Corvette Fighting Mongoose, which was then under the command of a fellow Wolverine, Commander Lionel Bonaparte. He served eight solar years under Commander Bonaparte, and twice turned down promotions to other ships. He was the second officer on Fighting Mongoose when Commander Bonaparte and his First Officer were killed by renegade AI’s from the planet Ecco 1. (Fighting Mongoose had answered a distress call and rendezvoused with a badly damaged ship. The AI’s on board killed several members of Fighting Mongoose’s crew in an attempt to seize the ship. Woden succeeded in killing the AI’s and securing control of his ship.)
At the time, Woden was the Second Officer, but as the highest ranking surviving officer, he assumed command after Commander Bonaparte was killed. He was awarded the captaincy by the S.Ex Con, and after a refit and crew refresh at the Chapterhouse Starlock, his ship undertook its first scouting mission; a two year mission in the Apus Sector of the Perseus Quadrant. Woden’s next assignment as Shipmaster was a survey of the Circinus Sector, which lasted two years during which he visited a total of eight systems.
After these tours, Fighting Mongoose traveled to the Orion Quadrant. Before it could begin exploring the Quadrant, the Charlemagne Starlock was attacked by the Aurelians. Commander Woden bravely remained behind to cover the rest of the fleet as it escaped and rescue survivors from the attack on the station. He survived the battle but was severely injured when the compartment he was in depressurized.