Zhadara Soraiya

=• First Impressions •= Zhadara is an attractive, though not beautiful, woman whose rather remarkable height makes her stand out in any room. She is not thin, but rather well-built and just shy of average weight.

Her hair is naturally black and straight -- usually worn shoulder length. The hair itself is likely the second thing you will notice about her (after her height) as she has a predilection for dying streaks into it. These streaks are most often platinum or pure white, but she changes the color as the mood strikes her. Generally the color will be something that contrasts highly with her natural black -- cobalt blue, neon pink, bright orange, etc.

With regard to attire, Zhadara tends to wear rather simple outfits -- one or two piece -- with long lines that accentuate her height even further. She is rarely seen without at least one bot hovering around her, so you might say that these are also a part of her normal attire. She definitely evidences a preference for black clothing, but is not wholly averse to color, and her clothing is generally neat and well maintained. The overall effect is one of classic elegance due to her height -- i.e., she strikes you as somewhat aristocratic although 60 seconds of conversation with her will usually dissuade you of that perception since she tends to sound more like a Granok mercenary than your average human female.

=• We've Met Before •= Zhadara is not a particularly charming woman, nor is she outgoing or a social butterfly. She is however, a good listener, naturally empathetic, candid and quietly witty. The result is that those who get to know Zhadara tend to be very fond of her. She seems to engender an almost fanatic level of loyalty in her friends, and the fact that she repays that in kind only serves to enforce those feelings.

Long conversation with Zhadara will also reveal the fact that she has very little formal education. In fact, her speech can be characterized as somewhat crass. Imbibing alcohol accentuates this tendency and she can trade barbs with the steeliest of Granoks at the bar without batting an eye.

Zhadara also seems to be somewhat of a social welfare Liberal, although she doesn't really exhibit this in normal conversation. She seems to have a warm spot in her heart for the fleet's lost and hopeless citizens -- orphaned children, friendless seniors, and those with disabilities. If you've met Zhadara several times, it's possible you've seen her complete some unexpected act of charity or even have a run-in with someone because they were preying upon some helpless victim.

She also exhibits a deep mistrust for males in general, although this can be overcome by specific men over time. Let's not call her a "radical feminist," but rather a "skeptic with feminist tendencies." As such she is slow to trust any male, and attempts to establish a relationship with her by pursuing her romantically or making sexist remarks about her appearance only exacerbate the problem.

=• You Know Me Too Well •= Repeated encounters with Zhadara will convince you that she has definitely more time around the Granok than the average human exile. Between a predilection for large weaponry, mass consumption of beer (and other alcohol), and language that would get her kicked out of any polite society, Zhadara seems more like a Granok than many Granoks.

Another thing that will become apparent once you get to really know Zhadara is that she tends to be moody. One night she may be lively and vivacious -- the life of the party. Another night she may seem quiet and introspective -- non-responsive to social chatter and somewhat listless. Those who know her well would classify her as "mildly bipolar." She tends to move on a curve that peaks with her most gregarious behavior and plummets to a state where she indulges heavily in alcohol and becomes contained, anti-social and possibly even combative.

The other thing that becomes apparent is that she can turn into a fearless lioness with cubs given the correct provocation. The social welfare example noted earlier is definitely one such situation and those who prey on the weak in her presence will definitely find themselves facing a whirlwind of unstoppable force in the blink of an eye. The downside of this trait is that she can be completely illogical and immovable in this respect at times. (E.g., try to explain to her why she can't just rescue two children being abused by their parents...)

Despite her perilous mood swings, overall Zhadara displays a remarkable self-sufficiency. While she may seem somewhat scattered and dependent to those who don't know her well, her friends speak of an "inner toughness" -- an iron core of survival. As you come to know her well, you realize that you would not bet against her coming out of any fight alive.

=• We're BFFs (SPOILERS!!!) •= You've penetrated to Zhadara's inner core and her behavior and emotional states make a lot more sense, because you now know their origins.

Zhadara's parents -- poor, uneducated and barely surviving among the flotsam of a space junkyard that earns its keep by salvaging minuscule amounts of metal, circuitry and other resources from the refuse others toss out of the airlock -- were neither kindly nor courageous. When Zhadara was just 14, they sold her as a commodity to a sleazy specimen who acted as procurer for a notorious whorehouse operated on one of the fleet's less visible vessels. With her height, the parents could easily convince anyone she was 18 years of age, but it is unlikely the procurer cared in any case.

Zhadara then spent the next four years working as an exotic dancer and sometimes prostitute in a less than stellar environment. She was neither brutalized nor critically injured as she learned quickly that her exotic height and figure could be a valuable commodity in that world, and her employers -- while ruthless and amoral -- respected earnings above all else. Exiles with seedier tastes visited the spacefaring bordello every hour of its existence bringing goods and credits they often could not spare for just an hour of pleasure and fantasies that were otherwise impossible anywhere in the ragtag fleet. And Zhadara brought in more credits than just about any of the workers. As long as she played the game and the customers kept requesting her specifically, Zhadara lived what was a life of relative luxury by the standards of her employer. Nobody kills the goose that lays the golden eggs -- not even sleazy panderers.

Sometime after her 18th birthday, Zhadara became the absolute favorite of one moderately well-kept customer named Therence whose life was better than most of those aboard the fleet because he possessed uncanny skill as a fusion engine technician. With more than a few credits to spend and no family around him, Therence began to visit Zhadara more and more frequently and one might go so far as to say he fell in love with her. Zhadara treated him well and using the promise of a deeper relationship convinced Therence to aid her in a plan to escape the whorehouse on a departing shuttle. When she arrived at Therence's quarter's on his ship, she took advantage of his weakness, robbed him of a goodly sum of credits and barterable technology, left him bound and unconscious, and managed to stowaway aboard a random shuttle off the ship several hours before her crime was discovered.

That shuttle took her to the unlikely confines of a Granok mercenary ship where she managed to stay hidden for several days before being discovered, summarily picked up by the collar and dragged in front of the ship's captain. It's not really known what she did or said to convince the Captain to keep her on board (some say she grabbed a nearby wrench and walloped him with it -- leading to general uproarious laughter among the crew), but keep her on board he did. What's more, the Granok crew took it upon themselves to teach her how to fight.

At first, this training consisted mostly of her getting sent to the med bay for patching up, but over time she began to display some talent for the ways of combat and learned that by using her ability to multi-task she was able to hold her own through the deployment and use of various combat bots that most of the Granok viewed primarily as amusing toys. Coupled with her superior agility and balance, she learned to fight using her own strengths and avoid the close combat, frontal assault techniques favored by most of her compatriots. After several years of life-threatening training, the Granok actually came to view her as skilled enough to deploy as part of their mercenary force and began to regard her as somewhat of a mascot -- affectionately dubbing her: "Shorty." Zhadara herself found this highly amusing as a counterpoint to her existence as an unusually tall human female.

Upon the fleet's arrival at Nexus, Zhadara decided it was finally time to part ways with her mercenary companions and asked the captain if she could have his blessing to make her own way down on the planet. The captain and the entire crew were saddened to lose their funny little human mascot, but also understanding of her need for more contact with her own species. (Nobody understands being separated from their own kind better than the Granok.) And so with the the shedding of some tears, the consumption of several dozen kegs of beer, and many parting gifts (mostly of the deadly variety), Zhadara boarded a shuttle to Nexus and a small colony named Mira's Anchorage.

She still has a sizable amount of her stolen credits remaining, but spends few of them so as to avoid attracting attention to herself. She remains in constant fear of her past, but she has also sworn she will never go back to work as a prostitute or any other sort of female sex object again. And she now has the combat training to make it pretty damn unlikely.