A. T. Pickles

Aster T. Pickles is a former Martian Senator and Chairman of the MAFC's Interstellar Co-ordination Committee.

Pickles rose to prominence in the Martian Union in the period 3180 to 3190 and by 3196 had been elected Supreme Councillor for Quadrant 0 and therefore inevitably Chairman of the ICC. He was born on New Mars to a wealthy country family with a history of public service. He graduated from the University of New Mars with a degree in Politics and Power and immediately applied for entry into the MSN, much to the disappointment of his mother. However Aster stayed in the MSN for the minimum time necessary as an officer, spending much of the years following his commission in various staff and administrative posts. By the time of his leaving of active service, Aster Pickles was deputy Public Affairs Officer for the MSN in Quadrant 8.

Pickles moved into politics as soon as he could and worked his way up through the levels in Quadrant 0 before finally being elected Supreme Councillor of the Martian Union and therefore Chairman of the Interstellar Co-ordination Committee at the end of 3196. Almost immediately the new administration, under the leadership of Supreme Councillor Pickles, tried to insulate the Martian Union from external events. That it almost immediately became apparent that this was just not something that could be done, the Pickles administration went into a form of paralysis. The Navy and other institutions saw cuts, ostensibly to fund investment but the resources mobilised were left unused. The ICC ceased to meet on a regular basis and individual senators with ministerial responsibility were left to do their own thing. In time this proved fortunate as the galvanisation of key Senators saw the removal of Pickles in late 3199. The subsequent administration found blaming "the discredited Pickles administration" a convenient excuse when they were faced with a near-intractable problem.

A. T. Pickles has since left politics and is an occasional host on tri-vid chatshows.

In 3210, Pickles was given his own politically based satirical show, "Ask Aster". This is proving popular, and has maintained consistently high viewing figures. Pickles' catchphrase in the show is "... if I knew that I'd still be Supreme Councillor ..."

For more information, see Pickles at MAFC website