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's 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
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, exacting her revenge on the Empire that once enslaved her. Her ultimate target was the source of her anguish, 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, 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. However, a shot from her blaster accidentally powered up an Arakyd Industries security droid, Z-58-0, who rescued her and returned her weapon. Saren was at first reluctant to let Z-58-0 accompany her, but, seeing the droid's determination to help, allowed him to tag along, nicknaming him "Zeeo." Working together, they stole the shipment and met with Katarn, who 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 hijacked an agricultural research vessel. Thanks to Zeeo, Saren infiltrated the vessel and reached the 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 laboratory and the warehouse before she saw Slak Sagar, the Vigo who 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. In response, 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 turbolasers. Saren asked the princess to send her instead of Katarn to destroy the Mirkanite Mining Facility, but her real intent was to find Kheev and finally get her revenge.

Once on Mustafar, 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. However, her hopes of finding Kheev were lost when she saw his hologram talking to the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett and finally Kheev himself 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, 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 scare 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 Zeo deactivated a generator that prevented their entrance and infiltrated the compound, where Saren 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."

- Stormtrooper and Rianna

But Rianna wasn't going to 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, Rianna found another Twi'lek slave, who informed her about an air duct. Knowing that it was her only way to escape, Rianna proceeded to it, but not before having to destroy a probe droid. Using the duct, Rianna 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, 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 the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, just as the Death Star fired a 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 the 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 in order to reconstruct 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 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 Kheev's hands. However, her attitude changed when she met Zeeo. Though she was reluctant to let him join at first, soon their relationship evolved into a deep friendship, even causing Zeeo to save Rianna's life by taking the shot aimed at her.

Throughout her life as a criminal Saren was obsessed with 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 instead.

Powers and abilities
"Rianna Saren.[...]I've heard a lot about you. It's all true, every bit of it."

- Kyle Katarn and Rianna

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. During her missions, she mastered several martial arts moves, including Hammer of Ryloth and Winds of Mustafar. While the majority of moves were performed by Rianna with her spring-knife and could easily kill an opponent, Rianna was most deadly in cooperation with Zeeo. Together they could even create small earthquakes that knocked all nearby enemies off their feet.

Equipment
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: her own modified DL-44 heavy blaster pistol capable of firing thermal detonators; a heavy blaster pistol that she took from the dead body of Slak Sagar and that could fire three shots at a time when fully charged, but used up a lot of ammunition; and a modified E-11 blaster rifle with a zoom mode that made it more accurate and was obtained by Rianna after she killed Sedriss on Tatooine. She could also use a weapon called the Dual Cannon, installed in Zeeo and capable of firing waves of energy and killing all nearby enemies, though it took a long time to recharge.

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.

Appearances

 * Death Star Designer
 * Star Wars: Lethal Alliance