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| Saskia Ortega
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Cirrus
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16 ABY
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Human
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Female
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1.75m
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70kg
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Chestnut
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Hazel
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Silver
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Mechanic
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Andraste Vivendi
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8396
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Saskia Ortega is a Krath Archpriestess in House Galeres in Clan Arcona. Born on Cirrus in 16 ABY, Saskia is a natural mechanic. Saskia views things in a very black and white way, and she is never known to sugarcoat anything she utters. She takes failure very hard and won’t accept a loss. The Krath is determined to learn her way around every system possible so that she can never be held captive anywhere by anyone, a symbol of her trapped childhood which was driven by her father's obsession and association that having a child was a public failure to his marriage and his business image.
Character History
Isolation
Saskia was born to a wealthy couple on Cirrus in 16 ABY. The only child of a factory chain owner and a nightclub chain businesswoman, Saskia was fully aware that she was there for image. She grew up around droids and a mechanically set routine, going to a private local school and generally being upheld automatically to the standard of her parents.
There was little to differentiate Saskia’s life from anyone else’s until she turned ten years old. The mansion was raided in the dead of night, and Saskia’s mother was murdered by the raiders, in response to the attack, Saskia was sent across the land to a boarding school with the intent of keeping her out of sight of anyone who would want to attack the business of her father. Her private education, along with a tutor, placed her two years ahead of her peers.
Escalation
Saskia just before leaving for school
It was quickly noted at her new school that she did not integrate well, a side effect from her isolated upbringing. She was near the top of the class from the start, though she continually strived to come head of the class in every subject she participated in.
As a result of the high publicity that resulted from the murder of her mother, then Saskia’s father paid for private defence lessons whilst she was at school. It was here where she developed her fighting skills and preference for K'tara and Jeswandi, her mentor commented that she viewed each fight like a chess game, and seemed to constantly be three moves ahead of her opponent. It was her mentor who also passed information and a report on her closed personality, since she showed no affection towards anyone, nor any emotions in close combat, making her hard to predict. His report suggested integrating her in social clubs, though she showed no interest in anything, except electronics and mechanics club, and it certainly did nothing to make her work with others like had been planned.
By the age of fourteen, she had still made no friends. She prefered to spar or study in her spare time. Saskia had quickly shown a knack at the likes of Jeswandi and K’tara in her self defence classes as her mentor started to specialise and fine tune the young woman’s style. He’d also taken to teaching her Mando’a as a way of taunting and gauging her opponents into making mistakes. She had a few months of duelling lessons, since men and women were expected to hold their own for protection, and had begun to show a polished talent for knowing where to stab her opponent for optimal blood loss or pain. None of her classmates would practice with her, since it was likely they would end up being badly beaten and end up in the hospital bay for several days.
Desperation
Just shy of starting her final year, her father had a blazing row with the headmaster, where it came to light that he had not been paying her fees for the past twelve months. Despite the promise that Saskia showed academically, they could no longer keep her on at the school without her father funding her attendance.
Saskia had to return with her father to the mansion, a stony expression on her face as they entered the pristine ruin. There were no servants, and the majority of the rooms were empty of any furniture. The only rooms with anything in, were the library which had her father’s faded leather armchair, surrounded by empty bottles, and two bedrooms with a bed in each, and a set of drawers. The business had failed three years previously, though her father had been in denial until all the servants had started to leave due to their wages not being paid. He’d then taken a comfort in drink to ignore the reality and tatters of his life. Saskia saw the man as incompetent, and left him to his own devices, just as he had done with her during her childhood. She went job hunting, and ended up at the local shipyard to the surprise as many had not seen her for nearly five years. Saskia made money with ship repairs and droid repairs, making enough to survive since she was flying under the radar to avoid taxes and the likes, but she made certain that any money went on paying for food, and not towards her father’s drink.
Saskia just after returning ‘home’
Several months after she had started her work, Saskia was well known by the locals, and everyone knew that she was nothing like her parents, she merely wanted to get on her own two feet. She never had any bother from anyone, except the occasional tourist who mistook her for someone to abuse, until the son of the owner of the spaceport appeared, and began demanding her hand as had been promised by her father in return for paying off his debts.
Saskia returned home in a rage, being followed by the man who was easily ten years her senior, who continued his rant and even followed her into the house, where her father confirmed that she was to be married to the man in exchange for his debts being paid. In a pique of rage, Saskia grabbed the sword off the younger man’s belt using the tidy and quick footwork of K'tara smoothly dodging his struck out arm in the process and proceeding to slice through his aorta before turning to her father. The man knew he stood no chance, and the sword was pushed through his chest, pinning him to the chair, only having the ability to stare at his daughter as she watched him die.
She packed the sword up, and took the sheath from the young man’s corpse before packing a bag up swiftly. An upside to swords over blasters was the lack of noise made when using them. No rush, no one knew what Saskia had done yet, they would only come looking when the son didn’t return home. She knew that she would be suspected if she disappeared straight away, so Saskia made a quick decision in one of the local boarding houses, shacking up like most of the pilots did in rooms which the local wildlife didn’t even want to go near. A few of the pilots persuaded the matron of the house, saying that she worked the engines and droids and she kept herself to herself.
Continuation
Later in the week, news broke about the two dead bodies in the ruin, and Saskia was the only suspect they had. She simply smiled and brushed it off, with the impression that she had arrived at the boarding house before the murders had occurred. Plus she pointed out that she had nothing to gain by her father being dead, since she had lost a free roof over her head. There was nothing substantial to pin her to the murders.
She continued working in the shipyard, repairing most of the ships that needed it, and catching the eye of a Ferroan pilot who needed a new mechanic to take on, with his previous one being killed during a spaceport raid when the ship was docked. Saskia had repaired his droid before, when his mechanic had been laid up, and he was impressed that it had functioned even better than before she’d laid hands on it. The man introduced himself formally as Tourou, though said he was usually referred to as ‘Skittles’, before offering the teenager a job aboard his ship.
Saskia found life aboard ship to be different, though it was easier for her to stay near the engine room, and had taken to putting her hammock up in there so she was always at hand in case of incident. Though most of the crew had taken to propositioning her at some point within the first few weeks, they all soon learnt that though Saskia was still young, and was more than willing to make amputations look like accidents.
When Saskia was about to turn seventeen, and mark her two years with the crew, the ship was captured near Gargon, and taken onto land. It turned out that the previous mechanic had been killed during the last adventure with the gangsters who ‘lent’ the money that Skittles had used to start up his business. Saskia had been smart enough to know to not ask what she didn’t need to know, and was able to give them next to nothing to use against the pilot, before being thrown in the cells with the rest of her shipmates whilst the decision of what to do with them was made.
Skittles was imprisoned as an experiment, whilst the rest of his crew were grounded. Saskia was made to work in the spaceport, repairing anything that was thrown at her under the supervision of a smug Human male, who was twice her age. He seemed to speak nothing but Mando’a, presuming that she would not know what he was saying. Saskia used the basic information from her training, and also used a book she stole from the reading room to learn the language in a more complex manner.
Elevation
Saskia in her work gear
Six months later, most of the crew were looking worse for wear as Saskia’s ‘supervisor’ came to ‘inspect’ her work. In a fit of rage, he declared her to be cheating somehow, before directing a slew of insults at the girl. In cold indignation, Saskia retorted with an equally violent string of insults in Mando’a back at the man, along with the nearest wrench.
The gangsters were impressed by her reaction, since the man had not been taken down by anyone before. They cut her free after she upgraded their main ship along with a battalion of droids, though she stuck around to make some money since she had no way of getting off the planet. She ended up replacing the mechanic that she continually assaulted as time went on. Within a couple of years, Saskia had been recommended to upgrade most of the clients that came through the port, at their own expense naturally. One of Xathia’s deputies was signing a deal with the gangsters, a male Twi’lek by the name of Nuro’aris, who was trying to expand the business by selling to other planets. She upgraded the ship, attracting the attention of the woman, who appeared as Sadie to barter with the woman for her skills in keeping her ships out in space from the main depot on Naboo.
Next Step
Saskia declined at first, until Xathia made the offer too good to resist, throwing in a ridiculous amount of money for a salary, along with her own ship and droid. The ship was in good condition, and would need little work doing to it, though the droid was something that would be piloting the ship more than Saskia.
For eighteen months, the girl was based on Naboo, and was well known by the crew that Xathia used. Within the first few, the deputy oversaw her work, and noted back to Xathia that she wasn’t one for socialising, but also commented that she usually knew what needed doing before anything was said, and was able to walk through any fights completely unharmed. Xathia approached the girl, and began to offer her some more advanced training, utilising a sword into her defences, when Saskia reported that she was fully trained in K’tara and Jeswandi, before Xathia ignited her lightsaber, and was able to offer the girl the final stage that her mentor in school had not.
The pair soon took to fighting with lightsabers, with Saskia using the old model that Xathia used before acquiring her latest version. She became skilled in Makashi, using the saber as an extension of her arm, just like she had with a sword, though it was quickly apparent that a saber would do damage with the flick of a finger. From there on, Saskia progressed to Dun Moch, and tried to challenge Xathia in her attacks, though she was not as prepared for combat in such close quarters.
The Brotherhood
Saskia flew to Arcona in the ship leant to her by Xathia, having taken note that she was planning to return to the Brotherhood, without consulting her husband first. When she landed, the girl refused to speak to anyone, instead insisting on speaking to leadership, where she was dragged to Cethgus’ office. She informed him of Xathia’s planned return, where it became apparent that the Zabrak had been holding an internal grudge against the older Human. Between the pair of them, they lay out a trap for Xathia, the woman had proven to be no longer of use to Saskia, and was nothing short of a traitor in the eyes of the Quaestor of House Galeres. After her elimination, Saskia took Xathia’s place in the ranks, slipping in silently with the sole intention of utilising the Brotherhood for her own gain.
Arcona
Saskia took Xathia’s place in House Galeres, slipping in straight at the Equite ranks, though it was not her nature to intermingle with others.
The Beginning
Saskia was quiet in her nature, taking on various projects to repair and maintain the ships along with any other mechanical issues which arose, keeping her away from most of the House unless they had a specific task for her. The not so subtle use of her Force Powers to create an uneasy presence meant that the Cirran was able to control who she came into contact with. After a couple of weeks, Celevon’s arrival back at Galeres caused a rift as he accused her of killing his wife, though Saskia played the technicality that it had not been her blade to end the life of the Omwati.
After a while, there was little that ruffled Saskia, she kept to herself, until she was persuaded to join Soulfire Strike Team. She was surrounded on a fairly consistent basis by electronics, either as a motive to improve the current set of equipment, or to learn about what their targets were using so that it could be over-ridden and allow them access without detection.
She transferred to Dark Forge to transfer her skill set, holding no loyalty to the long established Soulfire Strike Team, and was made Battleteam Sergeant upon the departure of Celevon to Qel-Droma not long after her arrival. She worked in the background, letting Valkish Ebonvar run the team as he liked, though she found she would pull some strings in the background if needed and had a natural talent for melting away for the majority of the time as a leader’s assistant.
She also started to dip her hand in the Antei Combat Center, though the Krath found she was not as well equipped for fighting as most others. She made it to the third round of the Fading Light competition, before losing to Celevon Edraven, something that irked the woman, but she was to find that her talents lay outside of battle, and more in strategy.
A New Ember
- "I'm pretty sure the hardest person to motive should be me, so make that your goal"
- ―Saskia to Lexiconus shortly after meeting
File:Saskia6.jpgSaskia in the ACC
With a new Battleteam Leader, Saskia found herself suddenly in demand. Lexiconus was determined to turn things around from a stupor to nothing shy of the best. He
spent hours in meetings with the woman, going through the theory of the team before looking at the fractured history of the team in order to make amends.
A Violent Explosion
- "Did you know?”
”That biologically you’re my father? Yes.”
”Then why-”
”Why didn’t I say anything? I killed the man I thought was my father for trying to marry me off at fifteen. He proved that being a parent to someone means nothing. You could have done anything, or tried to use that against me, no one else knew, though Celevon did notice a slight similarity between us when we were stood next to each other during my short stint in Soulfire. I told no one, it was not important for anyone to know, and when I found out myself was under torture because my capturers wanted to make sure their illegal operation would not be disturbed. When they accepted I didn’t actually know you, and you weren’t going to show up on their doorstep, they just used it to extract some extra money from someone, I had presumed you at the time, but now, it must have been the person they bought the old Imperial records from. Since they just wanted to know at the time using our DNA if anyone was worth a significant bounty at the time"
- ―Andrelious and Saskia on formally discovering their relation
Weeks of long meetings and politics of the Brotherhood began to grate on the young woman, causing her to lose any interest in interacting with the Battleteam members and the Leader of Dark Forge. She spent more time talking to her droid and fixing anything she was commissioned for, as a way of avoiding everyone. During one of her afternoons, the young woman found the newly appointed Battleteam Leader of Soulfire bursting into the hangar, anger on his face.
Andrelious had the wind taken out of his sails, realising that Saskia was not one for sentimentality and would do nothing regarding it. After an extended pause, the Soulfire Strike Team Sargeant extended an offer to take up a place in his Battleteam, pointing out that the Krath had been avoiding Dark Forge in favour of solitude and a change of placement was needed for her. The Archpriestess quietly accepted the offer, knowing it would give both her and Andrelious a chance to get to know each other.
Profile
Personality
Saskia
- "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."
"I'll take the mass murderer, you can understand them."
- ―Andrelious and 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 feet 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.