05-10-2008, 03:37 AM
Jacob Davidson was, like most citizens of Scots-Irish descent, more comfortable at the fringes of Bretonian society. He grew up an only child in the back of his father's small trader ship after his mother's death during the childbirth of what would have been his younger brother. As was common among Bretonians of the less-than-privileged caste, he stuck to "his station in life" and followed his father's footsteps into the world of small time local freighter operations. Once he became of age, Jake naturally took the left-side seat in his father's ship and became one of the youngest co-pilots to be seen plying the trade throughout Bretonia and the neigboring systems. Through the long hours possible from his youthful exuberance and some frequent scrapping runs to scrape together some extra cash, young Jake was soon seen working the lanes in his own small cargo ship. It wasn't much to look at, but he took pride in his ship and it was always as spotless and ship-shape as such an old jalopy of a ship could be. Like most young men and their machines, Jake was very much the "shade tree mechanic" and his ship was often rebuilt and repainted, when it wasn't a pile of parts in his father's hangar on Planet Leeds.
As an only son, Jake all to soon found himself to be the inheritor of his father's small business after his death not long after Jake's 30th birthday. Jake immediately went to work on his father's old boats and soon had them back in action, looking good and working better. (minus the one or two left as hangar queens, having been scavenged for parts beyond the point of fly-ability) Along with the mechanical re-works the small fleet of less than a half-dozen puny freighters were all repainted with Jake's trademark red stripe along the length of the fuselage. The unwieldy name of his father's business "Bretonian Off-World Hauling and Trading" (called the "bow-hats" among the employees fellow traders) was also changed to match the new looks and Redline Incorporated was born. The operation was moved from the high taxation zone of the industrial Leeds system to the neighboring Tau-31 system where Jake called in a few favors from old friends of his fathers who had some pull within the Bretonian mega-corp Gateway to get his new business a small office and hangar on Planet Harris. The lower taxes and occasional scraps from Gateway's table soon had the fledgling company firmly on it's feet and the small fleet of tiny boats (50-100 hold) was upgraded to just a few larger (150-250 hold) ships.
Being a small business owner certainly affected Jake's wallet. While not rich by any means, he was certainly able to maintain a comfortable living.
Now only in his mid 40's, he only rarely flys the freighters anymore. Instead, he has gotten himself a hot-rod fighter (the Malleus) that he often flies as an escort and even fixed up his father's old ship (the Bowhat Special) in the form of a personal camper that he enjoys flying into asteroid fields and doing some leisurely ore-mining like he & his father did for old time's sake.
Most recently, the favors he had gotten from Gateway were called in when the corporation experienced a shortage of freighter pilots.
Jake "Redline" Davidson can sometimes be seen flying in Gateway formations, lending a hand when needed,
most often at the helm of a Gateway Train out of Kensington Station, the Northumbria.
As an only son, Jake all to soon found himself to be the inheritor of his father's small business after his death not long after Jake's 30th birthday. Jake immediately went to work on his father's old boats and soon had them back in action, looking good and working better. (minus the one or two left as hangar queens, having been scavenged for parts beyond the point of fly-ability) Along with the mechanical re-works the small fleet of less than a half-dozen puny freighters were all repainted with Jake's trademark red stripe along the length of the fuselage. The unwieldy name of his father's business "Bretonian Off-World Hauling and Trading" (called the "bow-hats" among the employees fellow traders) was also changed to match the new looks and Redline Incorporated was born. The operation was moved from the high taxation zone of the industrial Leeds system to the neighboring Tau-31 system where Jake called in a few favors from old friends of his fathers who had some pull within the Bretonian mega-corp Gateway to get his new business a small office and hangar on Planet Harris. The lower taxes and occasional scraps from Gateway's table soon had the fledgling company firmly on it's feet and the small fleet of tiny boats (50-100 hold) was upgraded to just a few larger (150-250 hold) ships.
Being a small business owner certainly affected Jake's wallet. While not rich by any means, he was certainly able to maintain a comfortable living.
Now only in his mid 40's, he only rarely flys the freighters anymore. Instead, he has gotten himself a hot-rod fighter (the Malleus) that he often flies as an escort and even fixed up his father's old ship (the Bowhat Special) in the form of a personal camper that he enjoys flying into asteroid fields and doing some leisurely ore-mining like he & his father did for old time's sake.
Most recently, the favors he had gotten from Gateway were called in when the corporation experienced a shortage of freighter pilots.
Jake "Redline" Davidson can sometimes be seen flying in Gateway formations, lending a hand when needed,
most often at the helm of a Gateway Train out of Kensington Station, the Northumbria.