Doctor Alen Fairfax
Species: Human
Age: 65
Drive: Pursued
Warpside Assignment: Medical Officer
Groundside Assignment: Survey Officer

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These days, you’re a kindly old doctor, an avuncular, occasionally crotchety old sawbones full of wisdom and good advice. Your records are sealed, your past erased, and only a handful of people know the truth.

During the Mohilar war, Calcye was one of the first planets to fall into anarchy. The planet was wracked by civil war between four rival factions. You established a free medical clinic to treat the collateral casualties of violence. You treated gunshots, stabbing, pheromone attacks, failed cybernetic enhancements, bioweapon exposure, chemical burns... and realized that it was all pointless. Half the people you saved went back to the fighting. Something had to be done.

By then, your clinic was the best-equipped medical facility on the planet (the other hospitals had long since been bombed into uselessness). You used this to influence the faction — you’d prioritize treatment of one party if they would agree to cede territory to you, and you’d develop viroware for another group in exchange for weapons to protect your new zone of control. Little by little, you brought the warring factions to heel.

You’re not quite sure when you crossed the line from ‘desperate hospital administrator’ to ‘criminal warlord’. Every decision you made, you justified with the thought that it brought the end of violence a step closer. They weren’t assassinations you ordered, they were surgical incisions, cutting out a walking cancer. You dealt in drugs because you needed to pay your recruits. You developed bioweapons and combat viroware because... well, by that point the justifications had grown thin indeed.

When the Mohilar War ended, you were the undisputed master of Calyce and the four surrounding systems. They called you the Bloody-Handed Man, the Deathdealer. You were one of the most wanted criminals in the Bleed... and worse, you’d come to enjoy the power. You had become a more dangerous threat than any of the factions you’d defeated. You needed treatment.

You turned yourself in. You were tired of making compromises. You gave the Combine all they needed to demolish the criminal empire you built in exchange for leniency. They offered you a choice — life in prison, or permanent assignment as a laser. It wasn’t a choice — your former lieutenants are still out there, and you know you’d be murdered in prison as soon as you were identified. You have to keep moving if you’re going to survive long enough to repay your debt to society.

Power is an addiction. You keep the mask of the kindly doctor on tight, letting it slip only when absolutely necessary. You know that if you slip back into your old ways, you’d be worse than any of the criminals you now hunt down.

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The Crew:

• Aze Hawk: A former Combine naval captain. He knows about your history — he agreed to take you on his crew as a favor to the Combine.
  
• Revenant: A cybe. You know he was a Combine officer during the war, but was captured and tortured by the enemy.
  
• Francine Dare: The ship’s pilot, a real hotshot. You knew people like her back on Calyce — she’s too confident for her own good, and is going to get herself into trouble one of these days.
  
• Tim Zaren: A refugee from a genetically engineered colony, bred to be the perfect detective. You’re looking forward to treating him and getting a good look at his DNA.
  
• Volith: A durugh, rumored to be a former member of their intelligence agency. You dealt with the durugh during the war, supplying them with information about the Combine’s defenses so they wouldn’t target your worlds. Just looking at her makes the hackles rise on the back of your neck...

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Plot Arcs:

• First, Do No Harm: Underneath your kindly demeanor, you’ve got the mind and the killer instincts of a warlord. Can you put your dark side to use without falling back onto your criminal ways?
  1. You capture a criminal boss, but he’s severely injured. Do you leave him die, treat him — or treat him only if he spills everything he knows first? How do you navigate the grey zone between interrogation and torture?
     
  2. The crew needs someone to go undercover in a criminal syndicate. You can talk the talk better than anyone — but can you control yourself?
     
  3. A villain kidnaps you or one of the other lasers to force you into developing a biological weapon for him. Do you create the plague he wants, or do you stick to your newfound principles and let your friend die?
  
  
• Shadow of the Deathdealer:
  1. You meet a group of refugees from Calyce, who recognize you and thank you for protecting them from the gangs. They’re in trouble again — do you use your criminal skills to help them?
     
  2. An investigation leads back to Calyce — do you try to hide your old identity from the crew, or confess the dark secrets of your past?
     
  3. Your former lieutenant, Tager Kral, finds you and wants revenge. Are you putting the crew in danger by staying on board?