Dakota Smith

Dakota Smith, nicknamed the Mad Coyote, is the fixer who hands out work in the Badlands. A member of the Pomo people of Northern California, she belongs to the Aldecaldos but no longer rides with them. In one gig briefing she calls herself the eldest daughter of the Pomo and the oldest fixer in the Badlands. Her base is DaKota, an auto shop on Interstate 9 in Rocky Ridge, where passing nomad packs often stop to pay their respects.

Dakota describes herself as a static, a nomad who has stopped moving. She knows the label is no compliment, but in her view someone has to look after the people who come and go, and she makes no secret of earning a living from it. She also rejects the idea that the Badlands are empty: to her, nomads, Raffen Shiv, corporations and drifters form an ecosystem that would fall apart if any one of them disappeared.

Her database entry portrays an eccentric with a sharp head for business. Since the Unification War she has drifted from reality, and she spends her free time deciphering the secret language of smoke. She also carries an oxygen tank everywhere, having breathed pure oxygen for decades. Dakota has never double-crossed a client, and anyone who double-crosses her regrets it quickly. V gets to know her through her Badlands gigs, which include rescuing Iris Tanner, a gifted techie kidnapped by the Wraiths.