Name: Ike Brax
Known callsigns: Slowhand
Current affiliation: QCR - Bretonia Armed Forces
Rank: ensign
Graduated: Life
Birthplace: Sheffield Station, Manchester, Bretonia
Date of birth: September 8th, 782 A.S.
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 242 lbs
Sex: Male
Hair colour: Red
Eye colour: Green
Parents: ?, Elisabeth Brax
Marital status: Single
Ship name: Betsy
780 A.S.:
I was born on the 8th of September 780 A.S. on Sheffield Station (Manchester, Bretonia), my Mother died 2 days after and my Father was nowhere to be found.
The authorities put me to an orphanage on Planet Leeds, that's where I grew up. My childhood years were rather harsh but thanks to my strong built (I was the strongest boy around) I managed to survive. My teachers helped me to develop in two of my favourite fields: sports (boxing) and music (guitar, singing). By the end of the school I was a decent boxer and I regularly perfomed in our club.
Why Slowhand? Easy: I'm slow. Like a bear: huge, strong but not hasty a hasty type. Slow, relaxed and probably a bit gloomy.
798 A.S.:
After school I went to work in the docks. Hard work, hard people but I liked to live that life:
* work in the docks (physical work, petty smuggling)
* play in the pubs
* drink ale
800 A.S.:
Naturaly I was continously involved with criminals and the police.
And of course trouble came sooner than later. On a typical evening I was already a bit drunk, played in the pub when some typical fight broke off. I can't completely remember how it exactly happened but it turned into a melee and two of the opponents died. Sure, I got arrested on site and sentenced to a lifer.
800 A.S.:
But then broke the Nomad War off and I got a second chance: if I enlist to the Armed Forces I can restart with white cards.
And here is where my real life started. I never had any family I could count on, and the Armed Forces gave me exactly what I needed. Sure, the military training was hard but not impossible to pass.
So finally I had a family.
By the end of the training the war was actually over but I won: I got two friends Eric Smith and Ryan Webster both amateur musicians too.
We all three became the proud pilots of a shiny Crusader fighter and - no war going on - our first assignments were to keep the Gaians, Mollies and Corsairs at bay.
803 A.S.:
We even started a band, the Three Hands:
- Slowhand - that's me, I played guitar and song.
- Quickfinger - Eric (the brain of the three) wrote the songs, played also guitar and song
- Hammerhand - Ryan (a lightweight boxer), played the drums
814 A.S.:
When the war with Kusari broke off we were stationed on Battleship Derby right at the gate to Tau-31. So we got first hand experience of the skills of the dragons of the Kusari Naval Forces. Luckily by then we all got promoted to Sub-Lieutenants and equiped with Templars so we had a good chance fighting off the agressors.
From BS Derby it was easy to skirmish their lines in the Taus or defend Bretonia itself. This went on and on, we fought the enemies of the Queen and played music in the canteen of Derby. Life was really nice. In war promotion comes rather quick so I became a proud Lieutenant and got one of the first Challenger bombers on Derby.
816 A.S.:
Then came the disaster: Operation "Icepick"
High command planned a decisive strike against the Kusari Battleship Nagasaki. They collected a strike force, gathered all kind of intelligence, sent out forces as decoy in false directions and then we jumped on them at Holmann Outpost. And a few minutes later They jumped on us. Nobody knows how it happened but they trapped us. Only a few of our ships managed to return to Bretonian space. My Challenger was more like scrap metal than a ship. But I was lucky, I made it back to safety. Someone saw Ryan blown into bits by enemy fire, and nobody knows what happened to Eric (he is still Missing In Action).
The survivors made big noise trying to find out how this disaster happened. Someone made a huge mistake, wasting a lot of resources - ships and more sadly personel in vain.
Me - who lost both of my friends - I was rather loud and after a few pints in the canteen I questioned the cheef of inteligence of Derby: this moron simply discarded several reports about missing Kusari fleet units and as it happened theese ships closed the trap around us. He broke his nose. I did not hit him, he left the room through a closed door...
Of course now he is trying to get me dismissed or at least demoted. Luckily enough the majority of the fighting crew of Derby share my view and if not openly they support my case.
The 1st officer of the destroyer Black Oak suggested that I should ask for a reassignment to admiral Windsor's fleet where the bureaucrats of the Admirality cannot touch me. I don't have too much information about that fleet, they work somehow independent of the regular Armed Forces actions but that could only prove positive for me. I hope no paper-shuffler can prevent me serving the Queen!
I'll drop in to the Crown and Coin - rumours say - there is always someone from QCRF.