Branson Roberts

Branson Roberts is a fictional character from the 'Saga of Seven Suns' series of novels by Kevin J. Anderson

Biography

Branson 'BeBob' Roberts was a pilot in the merchant fleet headed by Rlinda Kett as well as one of Kett's five ex-husbands. After the death of one of Rlinda Kett's other captains the Earth Defence Forces employed Branson Roberts to pilot the ship at Yreka that acted as bait for Rand Sorengaard's pirates.

With the onset of the war against the hydrogues Branson Roberts was drafted into the EDF and although he was allowed to keep his ship "Blind Faith" his identification by the EDF General Kurt Lanyan as an accomplished pilot, Roberts was selected by the General as a scout to investigate known hydrogue worlds. After a few of the missions that in his opinion were suicidal Roberts decided to desert during his next scouting assignment to Dasra. Roberts went absent without leave and fled to Crenna.

As a colonist on Crenna Roberts used the last the ekti of his ship to import antibiotics to cure the orange spot outbreak on the planet and was reunited temporarily with his ex-wife Rlinda Kett when she arrived to transport Davlin Lotze off the planet. After the rediscovery of the Klikiss transport network Roberts resumed piloting "Blind Faith" with Rlinda Kett in "Voracious Curiosity" to deliver large machinery and supplies to new colonies.

After an encounter with Davlin Lotze on Relleker, Branson Roberts volunteered along with Rlinda Kett to return to his former home of Crenna to evacuate the colonists - dumping the heavy machinery bound for Corribus at the Relleker spaceport. Branson Roberts resumed his transport duties, carrying on to Corribus, after bringing half of the Crenna colonists to Relleker. Upon arriving at Corribus Roberts discovered the Hansa colony and the remnants of the Klikiss city totally destroyed though he was hailed by the two survivors Orli Covitz and Hud Steinman.

Taking the two survivors to Mars with the shocking news that the Corribus settlement had been destroyed by an EDF Juggernaut and Manta cruisers crewed by Soldier compies and Klikiss robots, Branson Roberts was immediately arrested by General Kurt Lanyan and charged with desertion. Fortunately Roberts was saved the fate of either a lifetime in a penal colony or a death sentence when Davlin Lotze broke him out of his internment on Mars. Accompanied by Rlinda Kett, Roberts escaped pursuing remoras onboard "Voracious Curiosity" to the Plumas system, however the ship was tracked their by a Manta cruiser and the pair was forced to dive into the clouds of a gas giant to disguise their route. Unfortunately, despite escaping the EDF, "Voracious Curiosity" was captured by a Roamer vessel flying out from an icy moon of the gas giant.

Appearances/ Sources

*Hidden Empire
*A Forest of Stars
*Horizon Storms
*Scattered Suns