Rianna Saren

"I'm not a slave anymore. Yours or anyone's"

- Rianna Saren

Rianna Saren was a female Twi'lek slave escapee who became first a criminal and afterwards a Rebel Alliance heroine. Early in her life, Rianna was sold into slavery and escaped on Coruscant to follow a criminal's path. In 0 BBY she was contacted by Kyle Katarn who introduced her to the Rebel Alliance. Working for the Alliance, Rianna undertook several missions that included the theft of an Imperial shipment from the Black Sun warehouse, the destruction of an Agricultural research vessel that was used to test the new kinds of drugs and the destruction of Mirkanite Mining Facility on Mustafar. During these missions Rianna met an Arakyd Industries Security droid Zeeo, who became her only companion. She had also discovered the whereabouts of Kheev and decided to exact her revenge, but was soon captured by him. Rianna was sent to Despayre, the construction site of the first Death Star. She managed to escape from the planet right before it's destruction and infiltrate the battle station. Saren was present at the conversation of Darth Vader and Kheev, where she learnt about the Death Star plans on Danuta and realized that the Empire was her true enemy. Her report on the Destruction of Despayre provided a valuable information about the battle station's firepower to the Rebellion. Saren later escaped the Death Star and arrived on Danuta where she fought Kheev, who was tasked to deliver the updated plans there. She killed him and secured the plans.

Early life
Early in her life, Saren was enslaved by Zarien Kheev, a ruthless Zabrak slave master, who kept her as a personal slave. As a teenager, she attempted to escape, but Kheev caught her and – displaying his legendary ruthlessness – cut off Rianna's right head-tail, which she eventually replaced with a prosthetic. However, Rianna escaped on her second attempt, and wound up on Coruscant working as a criminal and mercenary, exacting her revenge on the Empire that once enslaved her. Her ultimate target was the source of her vengeance, Imperial Slave Master Zarien Kheev.

Working for the Rebellion
"I know how much you hate the Empire. We need you. Say you'll take the job."

- Princess Leia Organa

In 0 BBY she was contacted by Kyle Katarn, who offered her a job. Her mission was to infiltrate the Black Sun warehouse and steal a shipment marked for Imperial delivery. After successfully breaching the warehouse, Rianna continued with her assignment until she was captured by a Black Sun smuggler. However, a shot from her blaster accidentally powered up an Arakyd Industries security droid Z-58-0, who rescued her and returned her weapon. Rianna was at first reluctant to let Z-58-0 accompany her, but – seeing the droid's determination to help – allowed him to "tag along" and nicknamed him Zeeo. Working together, they stole the shipment and met with Katarn, who introduced them to princess Leia. It was there that Rianna discovered that the Rebel Alliance had truly existed. Leia offered Rianna a chance to double her reward and after Saren realized that staying on Coruscant after what she did was too dangerous, she accepted the offer.

Her next mission was to investigate a strange activity on Alderaan where a Black Sun vigo hijacked an Agricultural research vessel. Thanks to Zeeo, she managed to infiltrate the vessel and reach the main computer. After slicing it, Rianna and Zeeo discovered that the vessel was used to test a new kind of organic drug on scientists. Rianna then planted charges in the laboratory and the warehouse and saw Slak Sagar, a vigo who hijacked the ship, contacting Zarien Kheev – Rianna's former Slave Master. Rianna heard as Kheev ordered Sagar to shut down the operation because of the intruders and deliver the last shipment to Mustafar. After hearing that, Rianna planted her last charge on that shipment and killed Sagar on a landing platform. Saren then contacted Leia, who informed her about the purpose of that drug, that was used on Mustafar to increase the slave production of Mirkanite, a material used in construction of turbolasers. Rianna asked Leia to send her there instead of Katarn to destroy the facility, but her real intent was to find Kheev and finally get her revenge.

Once there, she found a group of Wookiee slaves, who gave Rianna the access codes to the main drilling shaft. After telling the Wookiees to get all other slaves to safety, she reached the main shaft. However, her hopes of finding Kheev were lost when she saw his hologram talking to Boba Fett and departing Mustafar. Nevertheless, she continued her mission. Using the codes, Zeeo set the shaft on overdrive, resulting in the destruction of the facility. Her mission completed, Rianna decided that her time with the Rebellion was over and followed Kheev to Tatooine.

Seeking vengeance
"They wouldn't understand, Zeeo. Kheev did more than scarce me. I'm shunned by my own people. Just tell me where he is."

- Rianna

After reaching Tatooine, she was attacked from behind by Boba Fett in his Slave I, who shot down Rianna's ship and it crashed in the Dune Sea. However, Rianna and Zeeo managed to evacuate the ship before it blew up. After reaching one of the Tatooine towns, Saren spotted Fett talking to Sedriss, a right–hand man of Kheev. Realizing that he must know the location of Kheev, Rianna, ignoring Zeeo's warnings, pursued Sedriss. She soon battled him and asked about the location of the slave camp, that Kheev controlled. Sedriss told her, but had a misfortune of calling Rianna the broken one and was killed for that. Saren reached the camp and spotted the Zabrak entering it, escorted by stormtroopers. After deactivating the generator, that prevented them from entering the camp, Rianna and Zeeo infiltrated the compound. Once there, Rianna met Kheev in person for the first time since she escaped from him, but Kheev was ready for that meeting and released a rancor. However, once again with the help of Zeeo, Saren managed to defeat the beast and continued her search for Kheev, who retreated after the rancor's failure, but when she met him again, he was with stormtroopers. They captured Rianna and escorted her to Despayre.

Escape and revenge
"Don't even try! There's no way to escape! Don't be so sure about that."

- Stormtrooper and Rianna

But Rianna wasn't going to give up so easily. After reaching Despayre, she killed her guards with her secret weapon, the Thorn of Ryloth and found Zeeo. After fighting her way through the stormtroopers, Rianna found another Twi'lek slave, who informed her about an air duct. Knowing that it's her only way to escape, Rianna proceeded to it, but not before destroying a probe droid. Using the duct, Rianna reached the surface of Despayre, where she saw the Death Star, orbiting the planet. After stealing the speeder bike, Saren noticed a landing pad, but when she reached it, Rianna once again confronted Kheev, who shot Zeeo and departed the planet. However, Rianna and Zeeo managed to hide in a shipping crate that was picked up by another shuttle and brought to the Death Star. Once aboard the battle station, Rianna continued her search and eventually found Kheev talking to Darth Vader, just as the Death Star fired it third superlaser shot that destroyed Despayre. Hiding in the shadows, she overheard Kheev's conversation with Vader. The slavemaster was talking about the architects on Danuta who requested the updated battle station plans. After witnessing the battle station's destructive capabilities, Saren realized that the Empire was her true enemy and decided to warn the Rebellion about the new weapon. After reaching the communication center, she contacted princess Leia and informed her about the destruction of Despayre and the plans on Danuta. Rianna also asked Leia to send her to Danuta along with the other Rebels. She later downloaded the Imperial flight codes, stole the VT-49 Decimator and escaped the Death Star.

When she arrived on Danuta, the set of plans that was being held there had been already stolen by Kyle Katarn. But the updated plans were still in Kheev's possession. Rianna confronted her former master on a landing pad. Kheev was in his personal battle armor and was very surprised that Saren came for the plans and not for him. He attacked her, but with the help of her droid companion Rianna defeated him. Before dying, Kheev took a final shot at Rianna, but it was blocked by Zeeo. After taking the plans from Kheev's lifeless body and contacting Leia via damaged Zeeo, Rianna departed Danuta. The plans that she obtained were later combined with the ones stolen by Katarn, Bria Tharen, Havet Storm and the others to receive the complete outline of the Death Star, allowing Luke Skywalker to destroy it during the Battle of Yavin.

Personality and traits
"No way I'll let a droid slow me down..."

- Rianna



Rianna was arrogant, self-reliant, and preferred to operate alone – traits she wore in response to the emotional scars left over from her painful past at Kheev's hands. Rianna found it hard to trust others. Rianna's only companion was Zeeo. Throughout her life as a criminal Saren was obsessed of killing Kheev, but when she witnessed the Destruction of Despayre, she let go of her anger towards him and decided to fight against the Empire.

Physically, Rianna was highly athletic and agile, being able to pull off acrobatic maneuvers that were not only stunning to behold in their own right, but also with uncanny grace.

Fighting moves
During Rianna's mission, she mastered several martial arts moves:


 * Hammer of Ryloth
 * Winds of Mustafar

Weapons


Rianna also wielded a small arsenal of weapons with her on missions. She had a spring-knife, called the Thorn of Ryloth, which she wore on the upper side of her left wrist. With this weapon and her skills in martial arts, she was a dangerous enemy in hand-to-hand combat. She also wielded several blasters, including:

She could also use a weapon called the Dual Cannon, installed in Zeeo, though it took a long time to recharge it.
 * A modified DL-44 heavy blaster pistol, capable of firing grenades
 * A heavy blaster pistol
 * A modified E-11 blaster rifle

Behind the scenes
Rianna Saren was voiced by Julianne Buescher, the same voice actress who provided the voice of Aeron Azzameen. In the online game Death Star Designer Rianna is mentioned as a Rebel spy. Since the Death Star is still under construction at the Maw installation in this game, it is set in or before 2 BBY when the station was first seen above Despayre. However, in Lethal Alliance it is implied that Rianna didn't even know for sure about the existence of the Rebel Alliance until her meeting with Leia on Coruscant in 0 BBY. It is possible that Saren worked for a rebel group not associated with the Alliance during that time.

Appearances

 * Death Star Designer
 * Star Wars: Lethal Alliance