Name: Dirk Bradbury
Callsign: His neurohelmet bears the name "
Hammer" but he can't remember the last time the Quartet referred to him as such. On the comms or off, he is usually forced to go by 'Kid', 'Scatterbrain' or just plain 'Brains'. Usually depending on how much the others want something from him at that moment.
Date of Birth/Age: September 2nd, 3014, Just about to turn 30.
Current Mech: Helepolis HEP-3H "
Messer". Drops the Large Laser to a medium, LRM 10 to an LRM 5, SRM 6 removed. Top Speed of 64.8kph.
House Affiliation: None. Hails from the Lyran Commonwealth, but never particularly cared for nationalities or other such abstract concepts.
Military History: Began a scholarship at NAIS when he was 18 in 3032, straight out of school in mechanics. Transferred to Battlemech Technology in his first year. Dropped from the course. Reenrolled in Electrical Engineering in Aerospace Design in his second year, and was kicked from the course when it was found he had spend three months attending modules in Applied Particle Physics for Laser Based Weaponry. This trend continued, with Dirk starting and stopping courses as his attention was grabbed by newer and more 'shiny' things. Eventually in his fourth year, he successfully finished a year of a course on battlemech training - but was booted from the academy in his fourth year when he was caught stealing components from the university's training mechs to 'Test a theory'. What the theory was, he never told the university - but they did receive a letter in 3039 saying 'It worked - Good thing the FedCom started a war for me to test it in. -Dirk.'
Dirk was a founding member of the Tombstone Barbershop Quartet during the DC attack on New Ivaarsen in 3039. Since then, the Quartet has found Dirk to be a 'Human Swiss Army Knife of Discarded Hobbies'. More than once the Quartet has fled behind the safety of thick walls as Dirk muttered something like:
"Demolitions? I spent a couple of days making fireworks once. Lemme see. Oh, I like this. And that. Don't know what that does. Hmmm...which wire is it goes here? Stand back please, this'll either work or it won't..."
Sierra has been known to comment that there is a frighteningly small amount of things Dirk hasn't tried to break at least once or doesn't have a plan to do so that he simply hasn't had the chance to try yet.
Physical description: Roughly average height with short brown/blonde hair, blue eyes and glasses. Heavily scarred, burned, and calloused hands and arms. His face and several other parts of his body bear scars shaped oddly like drops of spattered liquid or small splinters. If pressed, Dirk will somewhat sheepishly admit that he often gets so excited he completely forgets to use safety gear before he breaks out the arc welders and other dangerous tools. Tends to wear ratty, comfortable and durable clothes. His trousers and long heavy jacket look not unlike that of a fireman's - the rest of the quartet roll their eyes if asked but Dirk says he doesn't like to be slowed down by the need to get changed when he has an idea. They're unclean, pitted, burned, and much repaired - and full of assorted tools, pens, pencils and paper. He does not technically carry a weapon, but has broken out wrenches, stanley knives and even a hand held blowtorch from the depths of his pockets in the past.
Open Background: Dirk has severe ADD, which causes as many problems as it solves. Highly intelligent, Dirk spends much time reading as many books as he can get his hands on - usually for less than an hour before he scampers off scribbling on a crumpled notepad muttering to himself. The Quartet more often find him stripping a mech of the weapon he was supposed to reload "because I can make it better, look!" than actually reloading it. In combat, he's nearly always the first to lay eyes on an enemy, but is also difficult to force to stay on target. Still, the Quartet finds it useful to have a resident mad scientist in the unit with no moral qualms about anything. The extra babysitting required tends to pay off, eventually.
His mech,
Messer, is another tale. On a fairly routine mission in the Sarna March, on the war torn world of 'Small World', the Tombstone Barbershop Quartet were involved in heavy mountain fighting, committing headhunting missions for the Duchy of Oriente. While fighting through a particularly infamous pass, a rockslide was triggered. The Barbershop had chosen their ground well, triggering their jump jets to get out of the way, and their opponents were crushed. The slide however, bore unexpected fruit, a battered and crushed mech poking out of the rubble. Curious, Dirk Bradbury piloted his Shadow Hawk to the wreck, and despite protests from the rest of the Quartet, began to pull it out. As the ruined mech began to take shape, it was recognised by another member of the Quartet and Dirk decided to salvage it. Dragging it clear of the pass while the remainder of the Quartet swiftly began their own roles in salvage, the Helepolis was evacuated by one of the carrier VTOLs.
Upon completion of their mission and returning to base, the Quartet's chief tech informed Dirk that the Helepolis' damage was not too extreme, and it could be salvaged - if they could find the parts, or at least some they could jury rig to work. It took three long years, the sniper needing entirely replaced, parts bought from collectors, antique dealers, and others undergoing extensive work before they could be fitted to the ancient design. A new engine had to be fitted, with the old one shattered Dirk decided to upgrade it to keep pace with the rest of the group. Dropping several of original weapons, he had a standard 300 engine installed, giving it a top speed of 64.8 kph. The new weapons load sees the Sniper mounted between the right arm and torso, an LRM5 on the left torso, a medium laser each in the left arm and head, with 2 tonnes of Sniper and 1 tonne LRM ammo with C.A.S.E. in the left torso. Three jump jets, one in each leg and one in the centre torso round out the mech, giving it a jump range of 90m, allowing Dirk to align with the quartet's manoeuvre based style of fighting. However, he is worried that he can't quite keep pace with the rest of the unit, and fears being caught alone or left behind.
Deep Background: Secretly, or so he thinks, Dirk desperately seeks for the approval of those around him. Whether he was unloved as a child or simply wants someone to appreciate his designs no one knows, but it doesn't matter. If accompanied by his friends, this isn't a problem, but alone...Of all the Quartet, Dirk is the one most likely to break under pressure.
EDIT: Posted the wrong year of the Quartet's founding - oops!
EDIT THE SECOND: Birthday added.
Edited by RogueSpear, 30 July 2012 - 03:48 PM.
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