Cade Brennan

Overview

Cade Brennan is a mining foreman working the asteroid belt’s extraction platforms. At 41, he’s spent fifteen years in the belt – longer than most, shorter than some. He’s the kind of man who survives by being useful: methodical, competent, and careful not to make enemies. His crew trusts him because he keeps them alive.

Background

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Cade comes from the Iron Range – a region with deep roots in mining. His family is Irish-American, originally from County Clare, and three generations of Brennans have worked extraction in one form or another. He signed his belt contract to pay off his parents’ house, and fifteen years later, he’s still working toward the end of his term.

He has no spouse or children. His parents still live in Duluth.

Physical Description

Cade carries the marks of belt work. His hands are permanently callused from suit gloves, and a scar crosses his left forearm from a cable snap in his second year. Gray threads through brown hair. He moves with the deliberate economy of someone used to conserving oxygen, and stands slightly stooped from years of low-gravity work – never fully adapted to station spin.

Personality

Cade is methodical under pressure. When things go wrong, he breaks the problem into steps and works through them one at a time. He reads people well – he knows when a crew member is about to break, when a deal is about to go bad. He speaks in short, practical sentences. Belt workers don’t waste air on long speeches.

He uses mining jargon unconsciously – “dead rock,” “sweet spot,” “burn window” – and rarely raises his voice. When he does, people pay attention. Under stress, his Minnesota accent surfaces: flat vowels, clipped consonants.

He avoids talking about Earth or his family. Ask him about home and he’ll deflect with a question about work.

Relationships

Cade’s crew is the center of his world. His relationship with Seren Varga is built on mutual respect and occasional friction – they don’t always agree on how to handle things, but they trust each other’s competence. Tobias Kone is the youngest member of his circle, someone whose technical brilliance and idealism remind Cade of qualities he may have lost along the way. Raul Medeiros is his veteran blaster and sounding board – cynical, loyal, and unflinchingly honest.

Hal Dresner, the old union organizer on Hygeia Station, represents a kind of cautionary wisdom – someone who’s seen what happens when movements fail, and what happens to the people who don’t give up anyway.