Coop

The cell leader, playing the mob for the newly-landed mediator, shot dead through the eye by Murtry the moment he threatens him.

Story so far

Coop, having orchestrated the sabotage and the ruins massacre, dies at the height of his bravado. When Holden lands and the town's mob confronts Adolphus Murtry, Coop pushes to the front to play to the crowd, needling Murtry over his missing men and grinning as he warns 'it might happen to you too.' Murtry names it a threat and shoots him through the right eye without hesitation; Coop drops 'like a machine that had been unplugged,' dead on the spot — the pretext for Murtry's declaration of martial law. His killing removes the cell's ruthless architect but leaves Basia Merton alive to carry the weight of what Coop made him do.

Appearance

A thin-faced Belter with a long low-gravity frame and a feral grin; here shot fatally through the right eye and dropping limp.

Role

Leader of the settler cell; his execution by Murtry ignites martial law and the open corporate crackdown.

Relationships

Adolphus Murtry — The RCE chief who executes him for a spoken threat, using it to declare martial law.

Basia Merton — His coerced follower, left alive and guilt-ridden by his death.

Holden — The mediator before whom he is shot dead, minutes after Holden forbade punitive action.

Sources — 4 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 2

Cold, thin-faced old-school Belter who conceived the landing-pad sabotage and refuses to abort when people are aboard the falling shuttle.

Chapter 7

Hardline ex-OPA Belter running the settler cell, coolly disowning the bombing deaths while pushing the next sabotage.

Chapter 11

Cell leader who springs a premeditated ambush, gunning down [[Reeve]]'s whole team and admitting he'd meant murder all along.

Chapter 13

The cell leader, playing the mob for the newly-landed mediator, shot dead through the eye by Murtry the moment he threatens him.