Saskia Ortega-Inahj is a Battlelord residing in House Ektrosis in Clan Taldryan. Originating from Cirrus, the young girl was soon amongst the stars before landing in the Brotherhood.
Character History
Cirrus
A Breaking Sun
A marriage born of necessity to ensue a successful career, everything was already nearly breaking between Susan and Marlo Ortega when Saskia arrived in 16ABY. Marlo had already publicly denounced the idea of a female heir to the notorious fortune, and was well noted to be disgusted at the birth of his daughter. Shunning his wife and child for favour of his sweatshop empire in the clothing industry, Marlo had very little to do with Saskia during her upbringing. Susan though, took an exception and despite her busy nightclub business, made the time to ensure that Saskia would receive a perfect childhood. This however led to a high turnover of staff as Susan would fire those she believed not fit to serve her daughter. There were a high number of mechanoid staff around for the cleaning of the mansion, and the mechanic who maintained them all was soon found to be the girl’s favoured person as even from a young age she became fascinated with the mechanics of items and would often spend afternoons sat with the aging man whilst her mother sorted out her business paperwork.
Saskia just before leaving for school
Growing up in such an isolated environment led to problems when it came to school age. Susan decided to send her to the same boarding school which had educated her, despite her husband’s protests at the price of tuition. Marlo was still eluding his daughter, and had been reportedly increasing his hostility towards the mere idea of Saskia inheriting his business upon his death though Susan could get no concrete evidence of this through her private investigator.
Devastation at Dusk
Whilst settling in at her new school, Saskia was unaware of the complexities of social politics, and would often find herself alone outside of lessons. Her teachers would make complex reports and studies to notify her mother of any changes. Concerned by this, and aware that her daughter would need a certain level of political ability, charisma and social ability, she persuaded the school that money was no object and to get the girl a private tutor for these aspects.
Although described as a diligent and intelligent pupil, Saskia seemed to lack the emotional capacity to replicate the skills to perfect her social skills. A strange approach was suggested to her mother of martial arts training to push the girl beyond her physical abilities. Susan sent the school a blank check, stating that only the best would be acceptable.
The illusion of a successful family pervaded around them all, with nothing aside from Marlo’s well known hatred of a female heir to blemish them. Unknown to Susan, her husband had been attempting to change her business over to his name to fuel his addictions.
At the age of ten, Saskia was suddenly whisked off home to a sullen mansion for a week without any warning. An impressionable girl who was beginning to unlock her emotional capabilities was deprived of her only source of affection, her mother had been murdered in cold blood in the mansion whilst her father had been suspiciously absent from the premises.
The death of Susan marked a swift change in Saskia’s life. Her martial arts tutor continued to teach the girl, but noted that she seemed unable to process any form of emotion again, and was he was inadequately trained to open the volatile girl.
The Passing of a Memory
- "This family is in ruins! And it’s solely your fault, you have to live with that fact and it disgusts me that you live!"
- ―Marlo to a fourteen year-old Saskia
Though her early teenaged years passed with little out of the ordinary, Saskia appeared to be a diligent student in her studies, and particularly impressed her teachers with a technological, electrical and scientific background. She was matching those years ahead with her knowledge and skill, and would often be left to work alone on her own projects in these subjects whilst also needing additional tutoring in her other subjects.
Nearing the end of her Senior section in school, the teenager was again brought out and returned home to Ciran, the city in which the mansion resided. This time, she figured something was different as all of her personal effects had also been sent with the girl.
Entering the dull and weary building, she discovered that her father had been left nothing of his wife’s business, and had squandered his own fortunes away. He was destitute, and had failed to pay the prestigious school’s bill on time. What money he did have, was being spent on alcohol and drugs, and had reduced him to a skeleton of a man who was loudly critical of his underage offspring.
Saskia upon returning home from school
Susan and all her artefacts had long gone from the mansion, and there were no staff to speak of. Saskia was surprised to find that the large amount of furniture had also gone, either being used as firewood to keep Marlo warm during his conscious periods, or having being sold or traded for his precious supplies.
She made a den of sorts for herself out of her father’s sphere of awareness, down in the old servant’s quarters where a few of the beds and chairs had survived his pillaging. She took to loitering at the nearest spaceport to make some attempts at earning enough money to exist. It was not uncommon at first for her to go days without a meal, before the repeat customers noted her skills in mechanics and her quick pace and began to supply her with a regular enough trade for the young girl to ensure she would have food and fuel to stop going cold at nights.
What’s in a Name?
- "You’re my property until your twenty-first birthday. I can do with you as I please, and this family has generously offered a substantial dowry for you, so be grateful you dala that I have chosen well"
- ―Marlo to Saskia
Saskia was able to move into a boarding house after a few months to avoid the mould ridden basement of the now ruining mansion. Though people were suspicious as to why an Ortega was needing to reside in what was considered housing suitable only for those barely sustaining their needs. The landlady of the house began to mother the girl, ensuring that she was fed on a regular basis in return for a little extra money.
After one particularly gruelling day, Saskia was willing to just up and leave, looking forward to something homemade and filling, when she was intercepted by the son of a local lord. Ensuring he had an audience, he loudly announced that he was bringing into effect the dowry that had been paid to her father and she was to become his bride. Saskia was clued up enough to realise that this would mean he would have control of her mother’s business and of all the profits. Anger was the only emotion that Saskia had experienced at this point as instead of the boarding house, she returned to the ruined mansion.
Marlo was getting ready to shoot himself up again with an empty bottle of alcohol next to him as he sat on a scrappy piece of carpet. Barely aware of his surroundings, Marlo’s head was just about able to look into the twisted face of his only offspring, a smirk on his face as the fuzzy outline of the Lord’s son entered the picture.
In blind rage, Saskia utilised the fighting skills that she had been taught to disarm the sword from the younger man’s waist before swiftly decapitating the man in front of her and stabbing the Lord’s son through the lungs and heart and pinning him to the wall. Logic swept over her and she removed all of evidence of her presence.
She swiftly disappeared back to the boarding house after hiding her clothing in the servant’s quarters amid the rotting old bedding.
A New Start
Despite the local detectives trying to detect any sign of who had killed the two men in the ruins of the mansion, Saskia was able to slide under the radar. She was quick to get aboard a ship being captained by the son of her unofficial manager and became their replacement mechanic after the man had electrocuted himself the previous week.
Saskia in her chosen work gear
She kept herself apart from the rest of the crew, preferring to spend her waking hours tweaking the system to capacity and performing repairs and maintenance than trying to stomach spending time with the smell of alcohol and other recreational items. The crew found her strange, and did nothing to hide this from the teenager by passing comments whenever she was near.
Shortly before her seventeenth birthday, one of the general deckhands drunkenly decided to proposition the girl. In silent anger, she relieved him of his right arm. Though nothing came of it, it was noticeable that the loud comments stopped in her passing. The doctor onboard commented on the cleanliness of the wound, and how sharp the instrument was, and from what the girl had heard was impressed with the delivery of the injury.
Change of Plan
Upon approach to Gargon to deliver some cargo, the ship was taken in by another, much larger crew. Saskia found out that the money used to start the business up had been borrowed, and the captain had been evading capture for some time to avoid paying.
The crew were all put to work to pay off their captain’s debt. Must to Saskia’s disgust, she was under the supervision of a male Taung whose personality strongly resembled that of her now deceased father. He would speak to her solely in Mando’a in an attempt to make her screw up her work.
She was still under regular interrogation inspections as well, and had nearly had her nose broken on more than one occasion against the grated floor. She had some news during one of these sessions, that her biological father was one Andrelious Inahj, not Marlo Ortega. Though this was new data to the barely legal woman, she showed no reaction and sated her keepers into freeing her after several months.
A Gangster’s World
- "A job. A roof over your head and enough to keep you occupied"
- ―Xathia to Saskia
The one thing about Gargon, was the need for people to repair things without any questions asked. Saskia was able to set herself up quickly with enough money to keep herself afloat and out of the local money grubbers hands. The planet was nothing exciting to the teenager, but it was somewhere that she could survive until she found a lift off world.
A brief encounter with an enchanting Alderaanian was the only part of companionship that enticed the otherwise emotionless Cirran. She was renown for her ability to turn down even the most romantic and handsome of individuals, much to many of her client’s bemusement.
One individual was a repeat customer to the world, a Human that interested the teenager greatly. She was based on Naboo according to her records, and what was said, though it was easy enough to falsify records as Saskia did on regular occasions for those wishing to avoid official eyes on other planets. Her given name was Sadie Brown, though from one glance, the younger woman knew it was a false one.
After numerous visits, Saskia was beginning to be able to piece together the money to get off world. She was not far from her goal, and it was at that point that ‘Sadie’ offered her the chance to get to Naboo. Suspicious, Saskia wanted to know what the return offer would be.
Saskia delayed from accepting to ensure that it was not one of servitude thinly veiled in a job offer. It was several months of weekly visits from the older business woman before her mind was changed and she accepted.
Settled Life
Once on Naboo, the mechanic was surprised to find that she was not being sold into slavery, and was given a small apartment around the corner from the garage she was to work in. Sadie gave her a small bundle of cash to furnish the place as she liked before telling the teenager that she was to turn up for work the following week.
The manager of the garage kept a close eye on the developing girl, noting back to the owner that their latest addition was not one for socialisation, but she appeared to have an intuition like no other. In several staged fights, Saskia walked away unharmed every time. The impressed tone from the manager did not go unnoticed as Xathia began to do some digging of her own into the young woman.
Saskia continued to distrust them all despite the regular income, and was busy hacking into various networks to reveal any extra information on her employer. She would keep herself to the fields and busy streets as often as possible, fearing that the apartment was bugged and that her movements would be tracked.
After finding out about The Dark Brotherhood, and that Sadie was actually Xathia Edraven Erinos, a Krath Archpriestess, Saskia decided that she needed to keep moving. The Brotherhood would provide the next stay, though she was sure that it would not be long before Xathia would chase her down.
Saskia in contemplation
The Brotherhood
Family Ties
- Andrelious: "You have two fathers you can choose from. One is a mass murderer, a killer of thousands. The other tried to sell you into marriage."
- Saskia: "I'll take the mass murderer, you can understand them."
- ―Andrelious and Saskia
Not long after her arrival in Arcona, Saskia encountered the Clan Rollmaster, Andrelious J. Inahj. As she was an Epis, Andrelious had little to do with her, even when she was assigned to the Soulfire Strike Team. After serving there for a little while, the Cirran was transferred to Dark Forge. Not long after that, Andrelious burst into the garage that Saskia used. A routine genetic screening had revealed that Saskia was his daughter. Marlo Ortega had never been Saskia’s father.
At first this revelation meant little to either Andrelious or Saskia, even when it transpired that Saskia had met her father’s new wife, Kooki, several years previously.
Profile
Personality
Saskia
Saskia has a better affinity with her electronics and mechanics than with people. She does not believe that failure is an option, and that failure was the reason behind her atrocious childhood. The failure of her father to keep his business and personal life separate, and ruined the home life, and his failure led to her being sent away to school, and then to the loss of the fortune he had acquired. When she feels vulnerable, Saskia automatically instills a barrier of Terror around her, though she does this instinctively, and will construct it when she needs to focus. She views things in a frank manner, since whilst working with a smuggler, it was a matter of her life, or someone else’s. She has a dry sense of humour, and will just say what comes to mind, regardless of her situation.
Combat Tactics
Saskia tries to break her opponent’s before killing them. She is constantly aware of them having knowledge that may be of use to her, and thus by breaking them and bringing them to the brink of death before finishing them off, she may learn something. She is a slender build, not built for endurance in battle, therefore she doesn’t like close quarters. She is a skilled martial arts individual, but if she can keep her distance and use the Force to do the damage, she will.
Physical Appearance
Saskia is 5 foot 9 inches tall, and a well toned build. Her hair is several inches past her shoulders in a chestnut shade of brown, with mid-brown eyes and a slightly tanned appearance. She likes to blend in with the masses, and dresses in bland coloured clothing such as leggings, boots and long tops, though there is usually a distinct smell around her of oil and the likes when she has been working on projects.
Personal Effects
Buzz Droid
Ruusaan
Saskia has affectionately named the buzz-droid Ruusaan, meaning ‘reliable’ in Saskia’s preferred language of Mando’a. She received the shell of the droid in exchange for the pilot droid she’d originally been gifted by Xathia. She built the droid’s personality, and uses it as a companion, as well as a travelling encyclopedia which she can bring on any missions without detection. The droid speaks in Mando’a as a preference, though will resort to Basic when requested forcefully by Saskia.
DJB Facts
Positions Held
Trivia
- Saskia has an abhorrence of alcohol. She avoids bars as much as she can, and does not drink unless she stands a chance of being discovered in a crowd.
- She stayed in the Brotherhood to use it as a protective deterrent from anyone who would want to target her, before becoming addicted to the power of the Dark Side.
- Stole Xathia’s Sapphire Blade upon her death, as well as her custom lightsaber.