Character Profile: Fred Luo

Fred Luo is one of Gene's most frequent business associates, but he's also the one associate Jim would rather avoid. That's because Fred is unabashedly gay and has strong affections for the two of them. Jim tries to avoid him if at all possible because Fred is all a tingle wondering how Jim will look when he grows into adolescence. As for Gene, he parries whatever advances he can, constantly tries to avoid falling victim to Fred's affection without hurting his feelings (since Fred always has bodyguards, angering Fred would be tantamount to suicide)...and then taking advantage of whatever opportunities arise.

Apart from his gay tendencies, Fred helps to run the family's highly successful merchant business. He's currently looking for new opportunities on the frontier, which is why he frequents the Sentinel system. His numerous successes have made him many an enemy (one of them even contracts the infamous Twilight Suzuka to try to kill him), but luck and his shrewd business sense have gotten him out of many a tight squeeze (after the failed assassination attempt, Fred found out who hired Suzuka and eventually drove him out of business). Just don't count on him in a real fight. He cares for his own skin, so he's somewhat of a coward.