Don Don

Don Donald Donaldson, Agribusiness Mafia Don

You’re a Mafia Don. Everyone expects you to be a monster... and you are. You do some really terrible things to get by and you know it.

As far as you’re concerned, that puts you one up on every other corporate goon. There is no CEO or corporate heir who hasn’t done more dirty deeds than you ever have. They just sit behind their shiny desks and pretend not to see. Sure, the Agribusiness Mafia kills union leaders now and then when they get too uppity. Walton Worlds just closed two planet-wide factories that tried to start a union. They didn’t put guns to the workers’ heads, they just let them starve quietly. Sure, the Mafia charges extravagant prices because they have all the food and they can get away with it. At least when someone buys 10 tons of wheat, they get 10 tons of wheat. The wheat will not break down the next week. It will not trick you into signing a contract never to buy corn. It will sit there and be wheat. That’s more than you can say for the technology sold by Banana or Precipice. Most of all, when a Mafia man means “pay me, or I’ll break your kneecaps” he says “pay me, or I’ll break your kneecaps.” He doesn’t sugar coat it or pretend to be doing you a favor like Crystal Network.

Of course, that’s exactly why people don’t like the Mafia: they tell the truth. They really don’t like the fact that the Mafia tells the truth about indentureship. Mafia indentured servants really have no less freedom than your average wage-slave at any other company. The other companies keep their employees indebted too, the Mafia just admits what it does.

You found out the hard way just how enslaved workers are at other companies. When you were young and still had some of your idealism left, you fell in love with Roxanne Rose, a beautiful programmer who worked for Banana. You married and lived very happily. You were both busy with your separate careers, and never had enough time together, but every minute you had was wonderful.

A few years after you were married she told you that she was onto something hot. It was so secret that she couldn’t even tell you what, but she was sure that it was going to pave her way into power in the company. Then she went to Banana’s headquarters to meet with some people and never came back. She must have known something that they didn’t like because she’s certainly never coming back. A few weeks later they got around to declaring that she had died in a tragic (and rather vague) accident. You have tried to move on, but still mourn her. To this day, you wear your wedding ring.

Well, you’re not going to make that mistake again. You have found another woman and this time they’re not going to take her away. Her name is Dorcas and she is indentured to the Mafia. She is only consenting because you have money and power and she has no real choice. You know that. Honestly though, does anyone think that the supermodel wives of middle-aged CEOs are there for their husbands’ sparkling personalities? You are on this trip to take her back to your home and marry her.

Dorcas is the secret lover of the General. He calls her Petunia. My god, what a stupid name. You know that they are in love and will meet behind your back if you let them, but, really, it’s better for her to have one lover you know than a dozen you don’t. He would happily buy her freedom, but, conveniently, if an indentured servant of the Mafia is engaged, no one but her and her fiancé can buy her freedom.

You started out in the Mafia with some hereditary power and climbed your way up by working hard and stepping on the hands and heads of those who were in your way. However, there is only so far you can rise within the Mafia if you don’t have the right parents. That’s fine. At least it’s aboveboard. You’ve pretty much risen as far as you’re going to go unless you carve out your own place.

Well, you intend to carve out your own place. You want to take over Crystal Network, or as much of it as you can, and force them to tell the truth. You won’t give away any Mafia secrets, of course, but there aren’t really that many of those. On this ship are a fair number of people who owe you favors that you can cash in profitably towards this end. Nearly everyone owes the Mafia a favor or two somewhere along the line. The more people you can use towards this end, the closer you can get to making the galaxy a little more tolerable . . . and your own wallet a little more full.

Corporate Allegiance: Agribusiness Mafia
Stock Owned: 12% Agribusiness Mafia, 7% Crystal Network, 5% Contenta

Who You Know

• Anish Patel: Head of Engineering. Anish is a very competent engineer, and knows the work. Anish is an alien from Gattpatt, but the Agribusiness Mafia hires lots of aliens. They're generally willing to work for less money and have fewer other options. Often, they are more diligent and competent than the humans who cost twice as much.

• Avi Levinstein: The Doctor. Dr. Levinstein was a great researcher in the day. However, last you checked, that day was over 80 years ago. Dr. Levenstein never had any kids. Either this is someone else masquerading as Dr. Levinstein, or there is something really interesting here. Either way, it is obviously a secret that Dr. Levenstein doesn't want out. The real Dr. Levinstein owns large portions of Contenta. Contenta advertises heavily in Crystal Network, and, could threaten to reduce advertising unless they helped you out. With your shares added in, Dr. Levenstein may have enough power to get that ball rolling.

• Dominique Buckley: The media celebrity. Obviously Dominique could be of great use to you. Dominique is a recruiter for the Utopia Society, a rebel group that wants to overthrow the corporations. It will never succeed, but Dominique is very enthusiastic. If word ever got out about Dominique's involvement, Dominique could lose power and status very quickly. Dominique has stock and a fair amount of influence in Crystal Network that could be used.

• Dorcas Peterson: Your fiancee. She's trapped with you and you're fine with that.

• Hai Lee: The gunner. Hai's citizenship is with the Mafia, so you can almost certainly impinge on some . . . good will. In addition, Hai's features are remarkably similar to those of the aging Don of Dons. Like most powerful men, the Don of Dons has quite a few children stashed around, most of them bastards. If Hai is a child of the Don of Dons, even a bastard, this could be valuable leverage for you. You would do well to get Hai on your side, by force or threat if necessary.

• Jeff L. Picket: The captain. My, my, isn't this an exciting ship. Jeff is also involved in the Utopian Society. If that got out, it would ruin his career and probably land him in jail. Not only does Jeff captain the flagship of the Spacefleet, he also owns a nice chunk of Precipice Technologies. All of Crystal Network's broadcasting stations run on Precipice hardware and software. Precipice could easily make things difficult for them.

• Jesus Rodriguez: The bartender. Jesus appears to have magically appeared out of nothing several years ago. You don't know whether he is a fugitive, an illegal alien, or just has enemies. Whatever the story, there is certainly something he doesn't want people to know. A lot of people around here seem to trust him, which probably means that he knows more about what's going on than most.

• Jip Barton: An up and coming young genius/nuisance. A few years ago the little genius needed some legal help getting out of a contract, and the Mafia was there. Now, you could call in a favor to get into Crystal's networks and find out what they're hiding.

• Sir Joseph Butler: The general of the Spaceship Fleet. His secret lover is Dorcas, but everyone knows that. He named the bloody ship after her. What they don't know is that, being twice her age, he has been taking Elixus to keep up with her. He needs to be seen as manly and virile, by her and everyone else. Letting other people know that he was taking a libido-enhancer would not be good for him. He has a fair amount of power in his position, and owns a solid chuck of stock in every company, including Crystal Network.

• Madison Wisconsin: The counselor. This person represents everything you hate.

• Malek Abdullah: Malek is on the run from something. Malek only arrived recently, and you haven't had a chance to run checks. You don't know if this person is useful.

• RX-137: The communications officer. Robots are useful tools, but they're not generally much for conversation, and they don't tend to have anything useful to you.

• Wahad Th'nein: The first officer, called Number One by the crew. Wahad is a spoiled, pompous ass.

Goals

• Get as much power over Crystal Networks as possible.

• Prevent Dorcas from slipping out of your grasp.

• Figure out who Hai is, and get control of Hai in some way.

• Make a point of being honest and pointing out hypocrisy.