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 a criminal and afterward a Rebel Alliance heroine. Early in her life, Saren was sold into Imperial slavery to Zarien Kheev, only to escape on Coruscant to follow a criminal path. In 0 BBY, she was contacted by the mercenary Kyle Katarn, who introduced her to the Rebellion. Saren undertook several missions for the Rebellion that included the theft of an Imperial shipment from a Black Sun warehouse on Coruscant, the destruction of an agricultural research vessel captured by Black Sun in order to test new kinds of drugs, and the destruction of the Imperial Mirkanite Mining Facility on Mustafar. During these missions Saren met an Arakyd Industries security droid named Zeeo, who became her only companion.

She had also discovered the whereabouts of her former slave master, Kheev, and decided to exact her revenge, but he soon captured her. Saren was sent to the prison world of Despayre, the construction site of the first Death Star, the newest Imperial superweapon capable of destroying entire planets. She managed to escape from Despayre just before the Empire destroyed the planet in a test of the Death Star's capabilities before infiltrating the battlestation itself. Saren was present at a conversation between Darth Vader, overseeing the project, and Kheev, where she learned about the Death Star plans on Danuta and realized that the Empire was her true enemy. Her report on Despayre's destruction provided valuable information about the battlestation's firepower to the Rebellion. Saren later escaped the Death Star and arrived on Danuta, where she killed Kheev and secured updated plans to the Death Star. Thanks to her actions, the Rebellion received the complete schematics of the Death Star and eventually destroyed the Imperial superweapon.

Early life
"Rianna Saren&hellip;I've heard a lot about you.''" "''It's all true, every bit of it."

- Kyle Katarn and Rianna Saren

Early in her life, Rianna Saren was enslaved by Zarien Kheev, a ruthless Zabrak slave master, who was working for the Empire and kept Saren as a personal servant. As a teenager, Saren attempted to escape, but Kheev caught her and&mdash;displaying his legendary ruthlessness&mdash;cut off her right head-tail, which she eventually replaced with a prosthetic. However, Saren escaped on her second attempt, and wound up on Coruscant working as a criminal and mercenary, hoping to exact her revenge on Kheev and the Empire that once enslaved her.

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, Saren was contacted by the recently defected stormtrooper Kyle Katarn, who offered her a job. Her mission was to infiltrate a Black Sun warehouse on Coruscant and steal a shipment marked for Imperial delivery. After successfully breaching the warehouse, Saren continued with her assignment until she was captured by a Black Sun smuggler and imprisoned. However, a shot from her blaster accidentally powered up an Arakyd Industries security droid, Z-58-0, who rescued her and expressed his desire to join her. Saren was at first reluctant to let Z-58-0 accompany her, but, seeing the droid's determination to help and his ability to single-handedly dispatch of a guard allowed him to tag along, nicknaming him "Zeeo." Working together, they stole the shipment and tried to escape from the warehouse. They had nearly done so when they were cornered at the exit by a group of smugglers. Saren, however, clang on Zeeo and they escaped from the pursuers, flying through the heavy Coruscant traffic to a rendezvous point with Katarn. The latter introduced them to Princess Leia Organa, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance. Only then did Saren discover that the Rebellion did truly exist. Organa offered Saren a chance to double her reward and, after Saren realized that staying on Coruscant after her infiltration of the warehouse was too dangerous, she accepted the offer.

Her next mission was to investigate strange activity on Alderaan, where a Black Sun Vigo had hijacked an agricultural research vessel. With Zeeo's help, Saren infiltrated the vessel. Inside it, in addition to various Black Sun thugs, she several times encountered IG-series assassin droids, but managed to survive all engagements. The two eventually reached the vessel's main computer. After slicing it, Saren and Zeeo discovered that the vessel was used to test a new kind of organic drug on scientists. Saren then planted charges in the vessel's laboratory and warehouse before she saw Slak Sagar, the Vigo who had hijacked the ship, contacting Saren's former master, Zarien Kheev. Saren listened as Kheev ordered Sagar to shut down the operation because of her intrusion and deliver the last shipment to Mustafar. Saren planted her last charge on that final shipment and killed Sagar on a landing platform. Finally, she contacted Organa, who informed her about the purpose of the drug, which was used on Mustafar to increase the slave production of mirkanite, a material used in construction of heavy turbolasers. Organa wanted to dispatch Katarn to Mustafar to destroy the Mirkanite Mining Facility there, but Saren convinced the Princess to send her instead of Katarn, although her real intent was to find Kheev and finally get her revenge.

Once on Mustafar, she infiltrated the facility by flying there clang on Zeeo above the rivers of lava. Inside, she found a group of Wookiee slaves, who gave her the access codes to the main drilling shaft. After telling the Wookiees to get all other slaves to safety, she reached the main shaft. Her hopes of finding Kheev on Mustafar were lost, however, when Saren saw his hologram talking to the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett and finally Kheev himself departing Mustafar. Nevertheless, she continued her mission, vowing to pursue Kheev afterward. Using the codes, Zeeo set the shaft on overdrive, and the facility exploded soon after Saren and Zeeo escaped from it on Saren's starship. However, when they had reached the space above Mustafar, they were attacked by swarms of TIE fighters; a Star Destroyer was also blocking the way off planet. Manning her ship's turret, Rianna Saren managed to fend off the TIE fighter attack and successfully made her escape. Her mission completed, Saren decided that her time with the Rebellion was over, and she followed Kheev to Tatooine.

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

- Rianna Saren



After reaching Tatooine, Saren was attacked by Boba Fett in his ship, Slave I. Fett shot down Saren's own ship, causing it to crash-land in Tatooine's Dune Sea. However, Saren and Zeeo managed to evacuate the ship before it exploded. After reaching one of Tatooine's settlements, Saren spotted Fett talking to Sedriss, one of Kheev's assistants. Realizing that Sedriss would likely know Kheev's location, Saren ignored Zeeo's warnings to pursue him. She confronted him and learned the location of Kheev's slave camp on Tatooine, but angrily killed him after he derided her as the "broken one." Once reaching the slave camp, Saren spotted Kheev under a stormtrooper escort. She and Zeeo deactivated a generator that prevented their entrance, as well as the detection and alarm systems, and infiltrated the compound. There, Saren met a group of Wookie slaves being held in their cells and promised to liberate them if they would tell her how to get to Kheev. One of the Wookies told her to deactivate another generator, which would allow Saren to reach a tower where Kheev was located. She met Kheev for the first time since her escape from him, but Kheev was ready for her. He released a rancor, but Saren defeated the beast and continued after Kheev, who retreated after the rancor's failure. When Saren caught up with him again, she was captured by Kheev's stormtroopers and taken to the Imperial prison planet Despayre.

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

- A stormtrooper and Rianna Saren

Saren would not give up so easily. After reaching Despayre, she killed her guards with her secret weapon, a spring-knife called the Thorn of Ryloth, and found Zeeo. After fighting her way through the stormtroopers, Saren found another Twi'lek slave, who informed her about an air duct. Knowing that it was her only way to escape, Saren proceeded to it, but not before having to destroy a probe droid. Using the duct, she reached the surface of Despayre, where she saw a new Imperial superweapon, the Death Star, orbiting the planet. After stealing a speeder bike, Saren noticed a landing pad, but when she reached it, she once again found Kheev, who shot Zeeo and departed the planet. However, Saren 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 battlestation, Saren continued her search and eventually found Kheev talking to the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, just as the Death Star fired its massive superlaser to destroy Despayre. Hiding in the shadows, she overheard Kheev's conversation with Vader concerning architects on the planet Danuta who requested updated schematics to the Death Star. After witnessing the battlestation'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 Leia Organa and informed her of Despayre's fate and of the plans on Danuta. Saren also asked Organa to send her to Danuta in addition to Katarn and his team, who were already being dispatched there to secure the Death Star plans. She later downloaded a set of flight codes, stole a VT-49 Decimator Imperial transport, and escaped the Death Star.



By the time of Saren's arrival on Danuta, Katarn had already stolen the set of plans being held there. Nevertheless, Saren confronted Kheev, who was still in possession of the Death Star's updated plans, 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, Saren defeated him. Before dying, Kheev took a final shot at Saren, but Zeeo blocked the blast. After taking the plans from Kheev's lifeless body and contacting Organa via Zeeo, Saren departed Danuta. The plans that she obtained were later combined with another set stolen by the efforts of Kyle Katarn, Bria Tharen, Havet Storm, and others to reconstruct the complete outline of the Death Star, allowing Luke Skywalker to destroy the station during the Battle of Yavin.

Personality and traits
"No way I'll let a droid slow me down&hellip;"

- Rianna Saren



Rianna Saren was arrogant and self-reliant, preferring to operate alone. She found it hard to trust others&mdash;traits she wore in response to the emotional scars left over from her painful past at Zarien Kheev's hands. However, her attitude changed when she met Zeeo. Though she was reluctant to let him join her at first, soon their relationship evolved into a deep friendship, even leading to Zeeo saving Saren's life by taking a blaster bolt intended for her. They worked well together as a formidable team.

Throughout her life as a criminal Saren was obsessed with killing Kheev, mostly to avenge the fact that she was shunned by her own people because of her prosthetic lekku, but when she witnessed the destruction of Despayre, she let go of her anger toward him and decided to fight against the Empire instead. During her mercenary career in the service of the Rebel Alliance, Saren gained some level of notoriety within the Empire as a Rebel spy.

Physically, Saren was highly athletic and agile, able to pull off acrobatic maneuvers with considerable grace. During her missions, she mastered several martial arts moves. She could perform the Hammer of Ryloth, a move which involved Saren gripping an enemy by the throat with her foot and slamming him to the ground by making an overhead somersault, and Winds of Mustafar, when she jumped on Zeeo and, while standing on her hands, span, hitting all nearby enemies with her feet. Still, she frequently used her spring-knife as a lethal weapon. She could understand Binary and could speak Huttese.

Equipment
Saren also wielded a small arsenal of weapons with her on missions. Her spring-knife, called the Thorn of Ryloth, which she wore on the upper side of her left wrist, complemented her martial arts well in hand-to-hand combat. She also wielded several blasters, including her own modified DL-44 heavy blaster pistol capable of firing thermal detonators; a heavy blaster pistol she took from the dead body of Slak Sagar that could fire three shots at a time when fully charged; a modified E-11 blaster rifle she obtained after killing Sedriss on Tatooine; a sniper rifle provided by the Rebel Alliance; and a powerful weapon called the Dual Cannon, installed in Zeeo. Zeeo could also project an energy shield, and Saren took advantage of this ability, protecting herself from blaster bolts and even deflecting them back at the enemy. Utilizing the droid's flying abilities, Saren could cling on him and fly to the point of her destination. Zeeo could also use his holoprojecting abilities to disguise Saren, making her appear as a stormtrooper or even as a protocol droid; Zeeo himself would pose as an IT-0 interrogation droid. By jumping on Zeeo and slamming him to the ground, Saren could create small earthquakes that knocked nearby enemies off their feet.

Behind the scenes
Rianna Saren was the feature character in the 2006 video game Star Wars: Lethal Alliance, in which she was voiced by Julianne Buescher, the same voice actress who provided the voice of Aeron Azzameen in the 1999 PC game Star Wars: X-wing Alliance. The character was first mentioned in an advertisement article for Lethal Alliance published in Star Wars Insider 90. She was again mentioned in the online game Death Star Designer, a precursor supplement to Lethal Alliance.

In Death Star Designer, Rianna Saren is briefly mentioned in an introductory message from Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, which explains that the Empire has increased security at the Maw Installation due to Saren's presence in the system. However, this implies that Saren has infiltrated the Kessel system, where The Maw is located. In Lethal Alliance, Saren infiltrates the Death Star while the battlestation orbits Despayre, in the Horuz system.

Lethal Alliance console differencies
The PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS versions of Lethal Alliance are different in a number of ways. This article tries to incorporate information from both versions, noting elements exclusive to one or the other edition. However, there are several plot points that directly contradict each other. In the Nintendo DS version of the game, it is an accidental shot from Saren's blaster that powers up Zeeo. In the PSP edition, however, the droid is activated after Saren has destroyed an energy generator while trying to open a door. In the former version, Saren is taken captive before she actually meets with Zeeo, while in the latter, she is captured after exchanging several lines with the droid. Saren's rescue is also portrayed differently. In the Nintendo DS version, Zeeo picks up Saren's blaster, makes his way to the cell she is being held in, lowers the cell's force field and returns the weapon to its owner.

In the PSP version, Zeeo infiltrates the cell itself through a shaft. Noticing the droid inside the cell, a guard deactivates the force field and tries to attack the droid, but the latter charges and kills him, allowing Saren to reclaim the blaster from the guard's body. Additionally, in the NDS edition, Saren acquires the heavy blaster pistol after killing Slak Sagar, while on the PSP, the blaster is provided by the Rebel Alliance prior to the mission to Alderaan. Also, in the NDS version, Saren contacts Organa on Alderaan after she has killed Sagar, while in the PSP edition the order of events is reversed. Saren actually sees a hologram of Kheev talking to Boba Fett and leaving Mustafar in the Nintendo DS version, but in the other edition of the game, she is only informed of his departure by Zeeo and discovers that Fett is working for Kheev only after witnessing the bounty hunter talking to Sedriss on Tatooine. In the PSP version of the storyline, Saren realizes that Kheev is in the slave compound by seeing his shuttle; in the NDS story, she sees Kheev being escorted there by stormtroopers.

Appearances

 * Death Star Designer
 * Star Wars: Lethal Alliance