Ryuko Ntsikana

History

Ryuko Ntsikana was a young refugee during the Pegasi Pirate Wars of 3301. His parents were killed during a Kumo Crew raid in the Amitrite system. He was then taken, along with the other survivors, to the Munshin system, where he fell in with a group that was fighting against the Kumo Crew. They had no love lost for their Imperial opponents either but joined them as auxiliaries. They fought hard through the later months of 3301, eventually ending up in a system that the Kumo Crew had recently been run out of, where Archon Delaine, the leader of the pirate major faction, had narrowly escaped an Imperial special actions team. The war ended not long after, with neither side able to claim a solid victory. The Empire was stronger for the war, but Archon Delaine’s pirate kingdom remained. A separate pirate faction, not aligned with Delaine, took over the system and made an offer to the now unemployed auxiliaries Ryuko was with, asking them to join. The group was split, causing a division within its ranks that soon boiled over. "The split turned violent—not the peaceful parting we had hoped for. Those in favor of joining the newcomers turned on those who weren’t. The founders and I decided to move on, but the dissenters followed, determined to erase what they viewed as a threat.” “It wasn’t just about the split. They saw us as a potential rallying point for dissenters, a beacon for those regretting their choice to join the larger faction. Erasing us was meant to prevent any resurgence. The fallout lasted for years. Some of us tried to start anew, others joined the prevailing pirate lords or went solo. Bounty hunting became my path—it paid better and kept me clear of factional entanglements.” Eight years later, while bounty-hunting, Ryuko spotted one of the former pirate members who had hunted them, the one responsible for killing his mentor during his time in the auxiliaries and after the split. Unfortunately, he did not wait for the kill-warrant scanner to finish scanning what was a known and wanted target with a bounty on their head. Ryuko was charged with murder, even though the courts acknowledged the deceased was a wanted pirate with a bounty, which they kept. A former Imperial liaison officer and Patron, Tzafrir ibn Ibrahim, aka Tzebra, directly involved in the Pegasi Pirate Wars and the raid on Amitrite, who had also been part of the team that nearly captured Delaine, used his influence to have Ryuko remanded to his custody, pending his withdrawal to Colonia. The Patron believed Ryuko’s sentence would be served there. In Colonia, Ryuko, being a classically trained pirate and bounty hunter, used part of his hidden wealth to fund and create a Xihe Biomorphic synthetic human construct, Tara Sha, to help counter the android handler his Imperial benefactor had paired him with. Her creation was a direct violation of the laws of all three major powers, and both would have faced execution, but in Colonia—outside the influence of the bubble’s laws—they were safe. Using his hard-earned knowledge and his new biomorphic companion, Ryuko embarked on a series of business ventures to boost his capital. With his android handler reporting his every move, Ryuko’s benefactor saw the potential in his talent and made him an offer: train others in his craft so they could be used to defend his assets against piracy when he expanded his commercial interests into Colonia. Seeing this as a way to win his benefactor’s favor, and possibly loosen or remove the leash around his neck, Ryuko agreed to the offer. He knew the number of pirates in Colonia was fewer than in the bubble, and if he wanted people trained, it had to be there. He also realized that to keep his biomorphic companion safe, he needed to secure his benefactor's trust. During his return to the bubble, Ryuko learned mining and exploration, further boosting his already considerable profit-making potential. Not long after, he used his increasing wealth to purchase a capital ship and assembled a large crew, which he began training in piracy, trading, exploration, mining, and business. In effect, he created over 1,700 individual entrepreneurs almost overnight. His biomorphic companion, Tara Sha, also began evolving, her neurological matrix developing pathways for experiencing real emotions. During this time, the two expressed their shared, growing emotions for one another. True to his word, Ryuko continued training his benefactor’s volunteers. Meanwhile, his benefactor used his influence to create a completely fictional background for Tara Sha, officially listing her as a human Imperial citizen. It was also during this period that Ryuko was released from his servitude and signed an official contract for continued training of the benefactor's people. Ryuko has since taken in a wing of mercenary pilots, the Coterie, and hired a legitimate independent trader and his daughter, along with a host of other eclectic characters from various backgrounds and skills. In a roundabout way, Ryuko is becoming like his benefactor—but he does not realize it yet.