Riketariet Atranos

History
Rikket was born on Vergerus Station, a spaceborne Hierarchy trading post. Her mother was one of the station’s guards, while her father personally accompanied some of the volus conducting business across the station. As such, each parent was quite busy in their work throughout Rikket’s youth. She and her younger brother, Daretus, often found themselves in the care of a family friend on board, a volus named Orin Maru. As Orin worked in his office on the station, Rikket spent a good amount of time watching his activities, and regularly inquired about his trading processes when the pace of his work would slow. Rikket was proudly one of the only turians in her extranet-based schooling who could talk about trade, thanks to Orin’s elaborative chats with her.

Although his work kept him in a singular office most of the time, Orin wasn’t able to directly babysit Rikket and Daretus at all times. When he was too busy to notice them slipping out, the two turian kids occasionally ran around the halls in close proximity for fun. Such excursions expanded to play fights and beating up training dummies in the station’s recreational area after their mother found the time to teach each of them self defense and basic fighting techniques. There were some moments mixed into these adventures when Rikket found herself taking care of Daretus when they would have normally asked for an adult, feeling as if she was responsible for her little brother in the absence of an assigned superior.

Rikket seemed to have a number of options for a hopeful future ahead, until the age of 11, when Vergerus Station was attacked and raided by batarian slavers. As it happened, Rikket did her best to hide with Daretus while their parents helped defend the station. In the end, unfortunately, the raiders broke through, killed numerous defenders, and captured anyone remaining, including the two turian siblings. At a later point in life, Rikket learned that her parents both died in the station’s last line of defense. Upon their capture, Rikket and Daretus were taken alongside many others as slaves to the planet Lorek, and put to work almost immediately on one of the planet’s sunward islands.

For the first several days, Rikket proved to be somewhat problematic, as many slaves would be in the beginning of their labor. However, instead of giving in, she only grew more fierce with her masters. The most notable case came when she saw Daretus being punished for stopping his work out of exhaustion. The sight of a slaver beating on her brother drove Rikket to take her labor tools directly to the batarian’s head. She continued to assault the slaver long after he’d gone down, and nearly killed him by the time others subdued her.

For her attack, Rikket was dragged away and thrown into a fighting pit to be gravely punished. The batarian who jumped in after her was massive, and Rikket couldn’t do much before he picked her up off the ground. However, she’d seen that all batarians in this camp carried electric prods, and as she was suspended, Rikket reached over this one’s shoulder to unsheathe his own. As he realized it and tried to stop her, she engaged the electricity, and he dropped her in shock. A few onlookers laughed at this kid getting the better of the big batarian, but others stepped in to subdue her with their own electric prods.

Rikket later found herself chained in a cell at the back of a stable of slaves. Although multiple attacks on masters was normally punished by death, her ferocity was somewhat entertaining, and they opted instead to see how long she’d last in a gladiator ring. Rikket was then released, only to be handed a rusty axe and shield and thrusted into an arena with a handful of other problematic slaves. While the thought of killing these people disgusted her, they were clearly ready to kill her in turn to survive. In the end, young but fierce Rikket came out the victor, only to be prodded with electricity again and dragged back to the stable.

From there, Rikket was told her life was valuable for entertainment as a gladiator, and until she died, it would be all her masters would have her do. Before Rikket could try to retaliate again, she was also told that her brother had been identified as an obvious soft spot, and for every future act of disobedience on her part, he would suffer any punishment that she would. Additionally, her death in the arena would only ensure a more torturous life for Daretus. For his sake, Rikket begrudgingly fell in line with her new life.

While at first, she had a morally rough time with fighting and killing opponents in the arenas, Rikket was slowly desensitized to such brutality. For her age, Rikket was already somewhat large, but few still expected a turian kid would prove to be a fierce gladiator, and she surprised crowds with a long-lasting streak of victories. Certainly, she had more to fight for than her own survival, and her ferocity only grew with time. Her prowess furthered when her masters began to provide better equipment so she could fight against more dangerous opponents. By the time she was fully matured, Rikket was one of the better known long-lasting gladiators among her stable.

As hard as she fought, however, going into the arena would sometimes surprise Rikket with strange environments and unexpected variables. In a more extreme case, Rikket was snatched for a battle without warning while trying to clean herself, and was dropped in with next to nothing to cover herself and no armaments. To say the least, she felt both furious and humiliated, but kicked into her survival instincts when other contestants became a threat. Evidently, none others in that arena were prepared for a fight either, but weapons were scattered across the field, and a racing free-for-all battle ensued. In the end, Rikket stood victorious with a new axe in hand and a few new but small scars.

Despite her victory, the feeling of vulnerability lingered, and Rikket decided then that such a thing was not acceptable for her in the arena. In response, she got one of the other slaves in her stable to tattoo her head, marking it once for every gladiator she had slain for as far back as she could count them. Following this, Rikket began adding new marks to her body after every fight, to keep up with her kill count, and to ensure anyone looking at her would know it as well.

The next major battle of Rikket’s gladiator years came soon, when she fought one-on-one against a renowned batarian warrior who called himself “The Iron Barrier”. The batarian claimed to be invincible, and strode onto the field with incredible defenses at the ready to prove it. As such, it took a lot of wit and overwhelming force to combat him, but Rikket defeated him after a drawn-out battle, solidifying her ability to challenge greater combatants For this victory, spectators began to call her “The Iron Cleaver”.

In the years that followed, Rikket continued fighting progressively stronger foes. Back in her stable, she and other successful gladiators gained better gear over time, losers would often die out, and new slaves would take their places. There eventually came a point when few were left who had been enslaved longer than her, and she became known as one of the greatest fighters among them. When multiple gladiators from the stable were sent into a team-based fight, having the Iron Cleaver with them was considered a sure sign of victory, though of course, it did not guarantee that all who joined her would survive in a battle.

One such battle was a unique occasion when multiple stable owners brought their greatest champions into a massive, open arena to face off against one of the Terminus Systems’ most terrifying gladiatorial beasts. At Rikket’s side, she found a trident-wielding human, a lean batarian with twin swords, and a krogan with a spiked mace for a hand. Though they were strangers from stables on different worlds, they were quick to put aside differences as a wingless harvester was released into the arena. In the opening actions, the harvester caught and feasted on the batarian, who took out one of its eyes before death while the others scattered. The conflict drew out as the remaining gladiators avoided the beast and tried to formulate a plan. Their attack finally came together when Rikket charged the harvester head-on with her shield forward, while the human and krogan came at it from behind. Her shield was quickly destroyed, but the others took the chance to strike the harvester’s vulnerable underside. It retaliated, killing off the krogan as it snapped back at them, but left its neck vulnerable for Rikket and the human to finish off for good.

The victory against the harvester was a great accomplishment for the two surviving champions. Rikket began to gain a higher degree of recognition than most slave gladiators did in their lives. Though it wasn’t exactly a celebrity status, as slaves were made to remain mostly anonymous and low, the Iron Cleaver as a title had caught the attention of some high-end fans of the arena. It wasn’t long afterward that a wealthy batarian invested in Rikket, giving her masters the means to provide her with professional equipment to take on the arena’s greatest contenders and war games. When she continued to claim victory, the investor began gambling on her, and more soon followed.

It was rare for Rikket’s masters to set up better living conditions for any slaves, but for everything she was winning, she was given access to a small area adjacent to the stable with a more comfortable bed and, more importantly to her, a door. More victories soon awarded a specially-crafted mono-molecular axe, and a handful of minor liberties between arena events. Her masters were prideful of her accomplishments, and though she wasn’t aware of it, they often displayed her prowess to potential endorsers and gamblers. Eventually, one such viewer, a lysenthi salarian, offered them a payment to see Rikket in person, privately.

When this viewer entered, he introduced himself to Rikket as Vaolen Taerum, and was quick to speak highly of her demonstrated abilities. Though she promptly stated her lack of interest in his cares, Vaolen had come with a proposition for Rikket. If she accepted, he claimed the reward would be freedom. Now with her attention, he told her of another champion, a free gladiator and a partner of his. Vaolen needed a massive pay-off to rapidly boost his champion, and was unlikely to get it anytime soon with expected arena outcomes. As such, he needed a surprise, and intended to arrange a battle against a very likely victor, such as Rikket, only to have her intentionally lose. The catch would be to stage their fight, and if Rikket complied, loss would entail faking her death in combat. Vaolen then presented a diagram for a collapsible sword that would be used to convince the audience, and offered to trade her axe out for a brittler model to better sell the loss. After the fight would end, he would arrange for her body to be taken away, and have Rikket evacuated and freed.

Rikket was unsurprisingly skeptical of this plan, but Vaolen followed with stories of slaves he had freed in the past in other ways for profits, even offering evidence from his omni-tool of their prior and current states. He claimed that, despite supporting a gladiator, he would not wish death upon business partners. Although she was taking an interest in the proposition, Rikket still had Daretus to be concerned about. She had hardly seen him in all their years enslaved, but her intention was always to survive for his sake, and Rikket would not leave without him. To her surprise, Vaolen stated he had been following her fights for a while, and knew of her brother’s state. His plan to help her escape included a scheme to release her brother as well, although it would limit his chance to help them afterward. It was enough for Rikket, and she affirmed the deal with the salarian, understanding the risk but willing to take it after so many years with no greater chances.

The day soon came when Rikket’s staged fight would be held in a public arena. Behind the scenes, Vaolen had told her masters that he wanted to see her defeat a gladiator of his own selection to validate her capabilities. They saw it as just another battle for the Iron Cleaver to claim victory and earn them more gambling income. Rikket, however, was prepared to let herself be finally defeated.

The opponent who stepped in was announced as Jorra Cri’toh, a gnarly batarian with a heavy shield and a sword which Rikket recognized from Vaolen’s diagram. As the fight began, Rikket initiated with nothing less than her usual force battle, although she was careful not to actually hit her foe. Without the concern of death, it didn’t take long for Jorra to land the right on Rikket’s shield to knock it aside and then shatter the brittle axe as she held it defensively. With her weapon gone, Rikket retrieved her shield to delay the inevitable, to ensure she didn’t appear to give up, but even that was cut short by a surprise attack in which Jorra severed her left leg just above the knee. Rikket hit the ground, overcome with a wave of uncertainty and rage, but could relent little more before Jorra’s sword was plunged into her chest. When she realized it had indeed collapsed, Rikket let herself fall limp, and then actually passed out in the middle of the crowd’s reactions due to shock and blood loss.

When she next awoke, Rikket was in the medical room of a shuttle heading off-world. Vaolen was soon contacted, and confirmed he had evacuated her body as planned with the help of Jorra and some bought-off handlers who were supposed to dispose of her corpse. Vaolen had also sent them her personal axe, and promised Rikket a replacement leg for her after the tremendous pay-off from Jorra’s unexpected victory, as injuring her so greatly had not been planned and was apparently done to make her loss more convincing in the moment. To no one’s surprise, Rikket was incredibly angry about her leg, but pushed her rage aside for concern of her brother’s status. Unfortunately, Vaolen’s contact responsible for retrieving Daretus had not reported back yet.

The shuttle took Rikket to Omega, and within a few days’ time, Vaolen arranged an advanced mechanical replacement for her leg and set her up with a job and simple housing. However, it wasn’t long later that Vaolen regretfully informed Rikket that Daretus and his contact had been caught and killed. A video dug up from her masters’ facilities displayed her brother and another salarian in a frantic rush, only for the salarian to be shot in the back, and Daretus through his eye. The news crippled Rikket for a time, and after Vaolen offered his condolences, he bid her farewell and cut off contact permanently.

As Rikket slowly recovered, for the first time in 14 years, she was faced with challenges that couldn’t be solved by killing opponents in battle. She had half an idea how the real world worked, and her newfound freedom became an active effort to figure out how to live as a functional adult in society. The job she’d been given was for labor on one of Omega’s docks, easy for a muscular turian to handle, but beyond getting necessities from her earnings, Rikket was at a loss for how to conduct herself. She fumbled aimlessly for nearly a year, spending her money on distractions and mundane things she’d been denied as a slave, but ultimately grew depressed and frustrated over her inability to adjust or figure out any sense of direction for herself.

Although it certainly wasn’t her first thought, Rikket eventually turned to her roots and looked at military life in the Turian Hierarchy. As far as she could tell, she had no say in turian society without at least enduring boot camp, and after that, she’d be provided with constant work, necessities to live and operate, and hopefully a sense of worth to herself and society. Even the freedoms given between duties didn’t seem overbearing, knowing she would always have responsibilities to get back to before long. At the time, Rikket was 11 years above the expected age for turians to enter the military, but as long as she could still voluntarily enlist with that in mind, it sounded like a good change for her.

Going through boot camp was a somewhat awkward experience for Rikket, given her obvious age, physical, and behavioral differences from the 15-year-old turian recruits surrounding her, but she completed the year-long process without any true difficulties. While her gladiator history wasn’t worth any points toward her ranking, her evaluation suggested that she would make for a highly capable infantryman, and could potentially qualify for specialist training before long. However, Rikket wasn’t necessarily looking to be a soldier on the grounds of war at the time, hoping for a position that would grant the benefits of military life without frequent combat to worry about. When other skills came up to help find suitable work, she demonstrated the basic trade knowledge taught to her as a kid. Though it wasn’t exactly meant to incorporate those skills, Rikket took a position as a guard for a military trading and acquisitions post on the Citadel. At the very least, following in her parents’ footsteps was something familiar that she felt secure in trying, especially so far from the threat of slavers.

As can be expected from propaganda, life in the Hierarchy wasn’t exactly everything Rikket thought it would be - which was partially attributed to being based on the Citadel - but it was far more suitable for her than sitting on little to no responsibilities back on Omega. Interactions with C-Sec and other races proved far more stimulating than the places she’d lived before, even though her contributions were usually minimal. As far as work went, Rikket made for an intimidating guard without much effort, which likely helped to deter a number of potential problems. To the surprise of the volus in charge of the post’s activities, Rikket was also good for conversation about their side of the work, having a decent understanding from the beginning about all of it. After a few years of work, the same volus appointed her as a personal assistant, giving her a pay raise to essentially become his personal bodyguard and handle any work he chose to pass on to her.

During these years, nothing particularly exciting happened, but Rikket was fairly content with her life. However, while she initially intended to avoid a combat-oriented position, long years of frequent fighting had left an impact on her. The lack of action in her new life led to occasional spikes in her survival instinct as if her entire being was unsettled, especially in her sleep, and only became more frequent over time. Visions of her brother began to plague her thoughts, and Rikket soon realized she’d been slowly building up stress without some form of action to look forward to. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she felt the desire to fight again. Against the wishes of the head of her outpost, Rikket soon contacted her former superiors and requested to enlist in the Hierarchy’s infantry, as they’d once suggested.

Now at the age of 30, Rikket was soon placed aboard the massive CSV Delatronus, as one of the dreadnaught’s hundreds of combat operatives. Rikket easily adopted some of the heavier weapons available on the ship, and set up a powerful arsenal for herself over the first few months in service. In that time, Rikket’s service record included numerous ground operations. Personally, she deemed that a chance for action once every few weeks seemed to be a good balance between frequent combat and none at all. Due to her overall uncertainty for what she wanted to accomplish for herself, other than perhaps taking revenge for her brother someday, Rikket still had not quite reached the life she considered perfect, but she was getting closer. Being a soldier was satisfying enough for Rikket to remain enlisted for the foreseeable future, and her dedication saw her reach the rank of Sergeant at 34.

Unfortunately, her satisfaction was replaced with a sense of necessity in 2186, when the Reaper War began. The Delatronus fought among ships attempting to liberate some of the first worlds to fall to the invasion, and was lucky to be one of the few dreadnaughts to remain intact throughout the efforts. Rikket and her fellow soldiers became drained over the weeks of conflict without vend, until an unexpected alliance with the krogan enabled the Delatronus to take part in a plan to liberate Palaven. For the first time in her life, Rikket set foot on the turian homeworld, and joined her newfound allies in victory as Reapers were at least somewhat driven back.

It wasn’t long later that nearly all turian forces were summoned for the Battle of Earth, a fight in which Rikket stood on the front lines of combat with every other military force in the galaxy. In the end, however, the assault failed, and Earth fell to the Reapers in a devastating loss to the whole of galactic civilization. The Delatronus was destroyed during the battle, and Rikket was one of the few soldiers from her crew to make it off-world alive.

Over the following days, Rikket’s seemingly unbreakable exterior fell loose, as she was plagued by panic attacks in her sleep far worse than her nightmares as an outpost guard years prior. Visions of her family’s uncertain fates that had long since faded from her mind began to return, now displaying them as husks and Reaper tools. Rikket’s nightmares only led her to train more harshly than ever, more to keep her thoughts occupied than anything else. Although the former gladiator was struggling to keep her composure in the wake of the major loss, however, she was soon contacted to join a newly formed operation known as RIFT. Unwilling to surrender in spite of her struggles, and seeing the operation as her best chance to keep fighting, Rikket signed on as soon as possible.