Hass

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Richard Hatch Novelizations separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

Hass is a juvenile delinquent recruited into the Colonial Warrior ranks during the Fleet's journey through hyperspace. A member of a youth gang alongside Kender, Hass becomes one of the first successful recruits in an experimental program to train troubled young people as pilots.

Biography

Recruitment

Hass is part of a youth gang operating within the Fleet, using gang terminology such as calling girls "swins." When the Colonial military faces severe pilot shortages due to personnel losses from the lottery mission, Bojay, Troy, Dalton, Rhaya, and Trays develop an unconventional recruitment strategy targeting troubled youth.

The recruitment approach becomes a friendly competition between Dalton and Rhaya, who take opposing philosophical approaches. Dalton advocates patience and understanding given the difficult backgrounds of gang members who lack parental guidance, while Rhaya argues for firm discipline. When Trays suggests testing both methods on two recruits with similar personalities and backgrounds, Dalton takes Hass as her trainee while Rhaya takes Kender. The competition involves physical confrontation, with both young warriors using force to gain the recruits' respect.

Hass responds positively to Dalton's more restrained training methods. While Dalton employs what is intended to be "positive reinforcement," she still resorts to striking Hass once to establish discipline. The single blow leaves Hass with a purplish bruise disfiguring his lower lip, though this is considerably less severe than the extensive welts and bruises Kender suffers under Rhaya's harsher approach.

During a gathering of the training team, Rhaya questions Hass about his injuries, pressing on his bruised lip to force him to reveal how he received it. When Hass initially resists admitting that Dalton struck him, Rhaya continues to press on the bruise until he confesses, stating "Dalton hit me, OK? She slugged me." Despite the pain, Hass defends Dalton's methods, boasting that his teacher only needed to slug him once to keep him in line, comparing this favorably to Kender's experience of receiving "a full pounding." Hass declares his teacher is better, prompting Kender to insult him as "a cross between a wimp and a mugjape."

When asked about his motivation for wanting to become a Warrior, Hass candidly states that his primary reason is Dalton herself, explaining "Because she's as hot as a pulsar. I mean, just take a look at her!" Bojay humorously observes that recruiting juvenile delinquents apparently requires letting "our sexiest women in the Warrior ranks beat them into submission." When discussing the possibility of recruiting female gang members, Hass suggests that male warriors could "bring the swins around"—using gang slang for girls.

Training Program

Following initial recruitment, Hass and Kender face the reality of warrior training requirements. Bojay and Troy explain that becoming pilots requires extensive academic work including astrogation mathematics, strategic thinking, understanding plasma streams and force fields, and mastering space suit operations. When Troy lectures about the comprehensive demands of training, both Hass and Kender initially express reluctance. After Kender wails "I give up," Hass immediately follows suit, stating "Me, too."

However, both recruits quickly commit to the program. Hass demonstrates his characteristic humor by suggesting that training "would be a lot easier if Dalton and Rhaya would take turns beating us up." This comment reassures Bojay that both young recruits will become assets to the Warrior ranks. The training group prepares to take the recruits to flight simulators when the ship experiences a significant shudder, similar to exiting hyperspace but more intense.

Landing Bay Fire

During a catastrophic fire in a landing bay caused by rocket fuel ignition, Hass demonstrates the courage and loyalty that validates the recruitment program. When the spreading fire traps both Hass and Kender on the wrong side of closing emergency doors, Kender attempts to save Hass despite the extreme danger. While other cadets flee the scene without looking back, Kender remains behind trying to help his fellow gang member, demonstrating the bonds formed within their gang structure.

Bojay enters the inferno to rescue both cadets. Through the smoke and soot, he hears one of the boys expressing his intention to go back for the other, confirming the loyalty between the two former gang members. Smoke inhalation leaves both boys half-unconscious, making the rescue extremely difficult. Bojay manages to grab one cadet under each arm and stumbles toward the manually-cranked emergency doors, though one slips from his grasp. He successfully pushes Hass through the closing doors to safety first.

Bojay then returns into the flames for Kender despite warnings from the fire brigade. After successfully pushing Kender toward the exit, a rocket fuel explosion creates a fireball that strikes Bojay from behind, leaving him with severe burns and broken bones. The incident validates both the recruitment program and the training methods employed. Bojay notes with satisfaction that he saved Dalton's protégé, Hass, referring to him by that specific designation during the rescue.

Hass's actions during the crisis—both being willing to be rescued by his gang companion and the loyalty that prompted Kender to risk his life—demonstrate the positive aspects of gang bonds that can be channeled into warrior camaraderie. Troy later points out to Rhaya that both Hass and Kender distinguished themselves by not acting as cowards during the crisis, unlike other cadets who fled. Rhaya concedes that while she remains angry at recruits who showed cowardice, Hass and Kender were merely "stupid" rather than cowardly—a distinction she considers far more acceptable.