The polity had a reputation of shockingly low numbers of rescues coming from there. Curiosity got the better of some who snuck to the polity to the surprise it was cleaner than most, and the people.. while not exactly treated like gold, were also not treated as though they were lower than animals either. Then they heard the tale from one individual, of how the CEO's cared enough to sacrifice their own comfort, to care for others when those others were in dire straights.
@internutter/challenge-04223-k205-after-the-crash -- Lessons
These leaders were not like other CEOs. Profit and Production were not their sole goals. There was also a freak element for a Deregger world - Public Works.
A food bank for the impoverished. A hospital for the sick. Public housing.
They weren't quite up to Alliance standards, but the fact that there were standards at all was more than a little astonishing.
The planet was still divided, of course. Between the CEOs who held the "time-honoured traditions" and the body corporate known as Power-Fell Industries. There was a lot of bafflegab regarding how Power-Fell were ruining the strength of their great polity with their weakness.
They'd given up on predicting their inevitable fall into insolvency merely a year ago. They were still trying to pretend they'd never predicted it at all.
Further investigation revealed that Power-Fell Industries had initially attempted to match the standards of the Alliance, but pushback had been too intense. So they were now walking their way towards that goal. Slow advance after slow advance.
Rich Powell, CEO of the corporation, credited an awakening after his ship crashed on a distant world. Removing regulations had nearly killed him and his entire family. As well as some thousands of workers on board. It was the skills and knowledge of the workers that saved all survivors of the initial crash.
Not the business know-how of the Powells.
They'd been smart enough to listen to experts in their field. They'd been able to reclassify "serfs" as "experts" on the spot, listen to instructions, and do what needed to be done.
Some hailed it as a miracle that they survived. Those same people called it madness when the Powells insisted the crew be rescued first.
That, according to the pundit Muddoks[1], was the first sign of rot and poison in their polity.
It did not help at all that Power-Fell Industries and their employees were flourishing. It certainly never helped that they were collectively improving the economy.
That's why they gave all the credit to others. Specifically, the biggest, loudest, most aggregious goldbrick egotist in the entire bunch.
The Powells didn't mind. It also meant that they wouldn't get the blame.
[1] Thanks to a miscommunication and centuries of garbling, anyone who is a public face of media broadcasts is a Muddok.
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