Brad Courtland

A portrait of the character

Brad Courtland is a human elected representative in Gledig's chamber of representatives.

Physical Characteristics

Human, and has a forelock that falls in his eyes. Wears a stole (presumably a mark of his office) and a cape with a pewter clip rather than the coats more common on Gledig.

Recent History

Courtland was elected as representative on a pro-Accord ballot, and had consistent run-ins with Kerenkev, who saw himself as the pro-Accord hero. He attempted to display his charms to the UAV Stardancer's visiting high-rank crew. This attempt was cut off by the Secessionist bombing of the governor's dinner; Courtland was injured but escaped with his life.

It was later revealed that, in addition to taking the bribes that Kerenkev used to keep the council of representatives for Gledig in his pocket, Courtland was himself bribing pirates; it was his belief that if the pirates raided enough, Fleet would have to arrive to save them, upending Kerenkev's political stance that they didn't need Alliance intervention because they were doing just fine, and framing him as the hero (and future governor). He was fortunate enough to discover a pair of disaffected Fleet members (Kamaney Foster and Pwyll Mansey, who had been directly betrayed by the same Fleet officer that Kerenkev was himself bribing (Baerut Flait), resulting in a stalemate: the pirates were being paid to attack, but the local Fleet presence was being paid to ignore them. Thus, his plan was backfiring, as the apparent uselessness of Fleet drove citizens into the arms of the Secessionists.

Trivia

• When working with Kamaney Foster and Pwyll Mansey, he used the code name "the Mouth."
• At dinner, Courtland seemed the most voluble and least cowed by Kerenkev.
• Has a female secretary named Maddie (species unknown)

Quotes

• "Fine, I’ll admit it! I paid the pirates to raid here. I wanted to give people a chance to see that Fleet would save us. I thought if the raids were more frequent, more obvious, Fleet would assign real firepower here. I made sure the pirates weren’t the kind that took people, just resources. But Fleet never came… thanks to you."

Story Appearances

Sword of the Alliance (Fiction)