Joe Donnelly (aka Alexander Drake; alias: The Magician) was born on Osiris to an Alliance military officer and his wife. Early on, Joe showed a marked aptitude for reading people; at first it seemed to be an ability to sense moods and trustworthiness. As Joe entered puberty he developed an allergy to cats and his ability increased to full reader, and the Alliance, as well as Blue Sun Corp., took an interest. Joe was sent to a ‘special’ school and then trained for work as an operative. As war broke out he was assigned to infiltrate and report back on the actions of the Browncoats. This was not a comfortable situation for Joe; he was raised with a strict Credo and the loyalty of a career military officer, but he did the job he had agreed to do. During his mission he began to respect and admire the loyalty and attitude of many of the Browncoats. He managed to get specific Intel about a desperate stand to be made at Serenity Valley. He reported back but refused to give specifics until he was promised that the Browncoats would be blockaded and isolated and allowed to surrender with no bloodshed. The officer that promised believed what he was promising so it came as a quite a shock to Joe when the Alliance butchered and made an example of the Browncoats. Once the trust was broken Joe turned his back on the Alliance, but not before he found out who gave the orders to wipe out the troops in the valley. He followed the officer for weeks and read her every chance he got and learned secrets that were not to be known. Shortly thereafter, there was a wave that circulated with intimate facts about certain immoral and illegal trysts that the officer was having and Joe gained a deadly enemy since his ego insisted that he make sure to leave a calling card that the officer would recognize. Since his ability started, Joe had been hiding it by reading Iching and Tarot cards which got him the nickname Magician. Joe left the Magician Tarot card for the officer to find. Joe started drifting, finding security or bodyguard work; never getting too close to anyone – his Credo and loyalty meant that he would never leave a mate behind, so it was just easier to make sure you never got too close. On one job as a security officer on a luxury starliner he met Widget and, in spite of his best efforts, Joe grew to like the vertically and exteriorly challenged mechanic. Widget was a genius with gadgets and fashioned some really useful gear for Joe – for someone who was basically a spy, having Widget around was like having a special branch to provide neat gadgets.