Travis Kirkland (トラヴィス·カークランド, Toravuisu Kākurando) is a fictional character from the Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: Missing Link video games.
Personality & Character[]
He is an extremely capable commander and subordinate, despite his blunt personality. For this reason, he is trusted by his subordinates, who are all crooks. He is not very attached to money, and even when he obtains gold hidden by Zeon ground troops who have escaped into space, he generously distributes it to the troops who have become his allies in order to survive the battlefield. Although he is willing to take on anyone who stands in his way, regardless of whether they are Federation or Zeon, he refuses to kill unnecessarily. For this reason, he gains a certain amount of trust from the remaining Zeon forces on the ground as a man who understands them.
History[]
Travis served in the Earth Federation military as a soldier, somewhere before the events of the One Year War he was deep in debt and had committed illegal crimes to pay off his creditors. Somewhere during that time, he fell in love with a Side 3 woman named Elena, and they had a child named Vincent. Travis left his family behind due to his military duties sometime after Vincent's second birthday. After the outbreak of the One Year War, Travis was caught by authorities and accused of being a spy when it was found that he was trying to establish contact with his family in Side 3 in spite of strict wartime regulations and restrictions on communications with the opposing Zeon forces' homeland. Travis was to be sentenced to death, but before he was to be executed, Grave offered him a chance at redemption by serving as his own personal assassin.
After the One Year War, he moved to Side 6 and ran a junk shop as a hobby while working as an amateur aggressor and test pilot for a private company while searching for his son, Vincent, and the Pale Rider pilot. In the year 0090, he learns of their whereabouts through information from Doris. He pilots his personal mobile suit, MSZ-008 ZII, which was borrowed from Anaheim Electronics as he began his search for his son. After finally reuniting with his son and Chloe, the three of them battled with the remnants of the Glemy Faction before encountering the survivor of Marchosias team, Annerose Rosenheim in her red NZ-000 Queen Mansa, who attempts to get revenge against Chloe for killing most of Marchosias' members in the One Year War. Following the destruction of Todesritter and Queen Mansa, Chloe and Annerose, who finally came to terms with their pasts, both ejected and were rescued by Vincent and Travis. Then, the four of them would live peacefully together after the conflict.
In the manga version, in order to eliminate Grave directly, all the troops except for Ripper go into space and rob the Pale Rider Cavalry, a mass production model of the Pale Rider, in Solomon. During the Battle of A Baoa Qu, his first priority is to eliminate Grave, but when he learns that his son's squadron, the Marchosias, is in danger due to the Pale Rider attack, he goes to their aid with the help of his subordinates. He wins a direct confrontation between HADES-equipped units, subdues the Pale Rider, and sends the rescued Vincent and Chloe back to Zeon. After that, he attacks Grave's mother ship Forrestal alone, but is forced to shut down the ship by remote control. However, Marvin, who had infiltrated the ship through a different route, carried out a bombing operation using his Guncannon, causing critical damage to the ship and releasing the remote control. Travis shoots and kills Grave with the Cavalry's Vulcan guns to complete his revenge. After the end of the One Year War, he occupies the former research facility of HADES in the Mariana Islands and waits for Vincent to bring Chloe to him. When the Federation forces appear in pursuit of the Pale Rider, he intercepts them with his Full Armor Slave Wraith and destroys them before seeing Vincent and Chloe reconcile.
Relationships[]
Vincent Gleissner - Travis' son, whom he has been desperately searching for since the Earth Federation tore their family apart. Travis would learn that Vincent is the pilot of the blue Zaku from one of Zeon's regiment Marchosias. At first they could only communicate through telecom, but they didn't have much to talk about due to being on different sides.
However, after Travis found out that the reason for Pale Rider's assault on Slave Wraith is the team's commander, Grave has decided to dispose of the team. So as Travis suggested, the Wraiths had no choice but to turn into Zeon soldiers in order to survive. At this point, the fate of his family has changed as after Vincent suggested that the Wraiths are truly being attacked by the EFF, so Marchosias can provide backup to the Wraiths, eventually the Wraiths developed a sincerely friendly relationship with Marchosias unlike the rest of the Zeon. Thus completing the reunion of the father and son by becoming fellow ally pilots.
According to Vincent, Travis' playful mind is an antithesis to his instructor, Doug Schneid's strict and prideful personality.
Quotes[]
“ | "Hmph. It has quite the handsome face. I think I'm in love." | ” |
—Travis Kirkland's statement upon first seeing his RX-79[G]SW Slave Wraith, Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: Missing Link.[1] |