First Pilot: Roy Brown, Former Chief Constable, Bretonian Police Authority (Leeds/Newcastle Section Chief; Commerce Control Division)
Born into a working class family on New London, Roy Brown joined the Bretonian Police Authority straight after finishing school. Apparently dull and timid, his early career was medicore, and he worked principally planet-side with C.I.D. investigating assaults, muggings and larceny. He was diagnosed as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following a handful of encounters with violent criminals in Cambridge, as well as witnessing the terrorist Mon'star destroy an entire BPA squad. He was on restricted duties in Manchester for much of the time of his convalescence.
Brown's career took a turn with the establishment of the Commerce Control Division, set up to counter the growing smuggling problem. Reassigned to the command of the Carapace, a modified Percheron transport designed to counter violent smugglers, Brown's patience paid dividends and he quickly blossomed - with an eye for anything out of the ordinary, a facility with ship design, and a gift for using Bretonia's transport network to intercept smugglers.
His crew also proved to be loyal, as well as capable - the Carapace became legendary among the Leeds constabulary for single-handedly disabling a Lane Hacker gunboat.
By the end of 816 AS he became a valued member of the Authority, and was in due course promoted to Leeds/Newcastle Section Chief. However, despite his progress through the ranks, he was a deeply unhappy man. His parents had died and he was an only child. The grind of paperwork was hard on him. His growing dissatisfaction with his superiors and the increasingly restrictive regime in Bretonia, his continuing personal loneliness, and a clinical depression exacerbated by alcoholism and the inclement climate of Leeds plagued him.
The final straw for Brown came in late 817 AS when several other members of the Authority faced arrest for investigating the suspicious death of a colleague. Brown shared the suspicion that the Bretonian Admiralty were responsible and intended to declare martial law, and when it was apparent that the constables would be placed under military arrest, Brown and the rest of the crew of the Carapace defied orders, going so far as to fire on Armed Forces ships before making good their escape across the border into Omega 49. They picked their way past squads of Corsair raiders and finally found themselves orbiting Gran Canaria.
Landing on a remote part of the planet, the crew ditched their uniforms and set off to try to make new lives for themselves.
Brown felt a lightness of spirit unlike anything he had ever experienced. The sky overhead was blue and clear.
