Ten

**Ten** is a female Irva, one of the crew members of the *Manta*, and one of the main characters of the series. She is the closest companion of Valentine.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

Ten was born in AY 2979 to parents of high status within the Empire. Though she was taught from an early age that, as an irva, she was better than the other species, she began to question that mentality as she grew older and a wedge was formed between her and her parents. At the age of ten, she left home and was taken in by her uncle, Pragley Rok. Together, they ran a farm on the planet Jantii where they grew and harvested okinlas.

### **The Mark of Eden**

#### **First Impressions**

In AY 2998, she and her uncle watched a Cell ship crash into their fields. Within the wreckage, they found an unknown alien who gave his name as Valentine. He told them he was a human, but neither of them had ever heard of such a thing. When they brought him to a Sentinel so it could scan him and tell them where he came from, it latched onto his wrist and burned the Mark of Eden into his wrist. When Prag interrogated him, Ten rose to his defense and calmed the tension between the two.

Over the next two years, she and Val came to be best friends. One day, a ship landed bearing a synthoid calling herself Note which claimed that they and Val knew each other from their previous lives. During this meeting, the Cell had been tracking Note. They arrived and blew up the farmhouse in an explosion that killed Prag. The surviving trio was able to make it off Jantii and escape the Cell on Note's ship, watching as the Sentinels arrived in the sky and began to repel the Cell.

#### **Building a Team**

Ten, Val, and Note travelled to the Mercantile in an effort to evade the Cell. Ten nearly broke down, lamenting the loss of her uncle, but Val quickly comforted her and told her they'd be fine so long as they were together. Her courage renewed, Ten joined him and Note as the latter told them they needed to find protection in the form of a bodyguard. Journeying to Straxe Plaza, Ten withdrew funds while Note analyzed potential candidates on the Shadow Market for their bodyguard.

Ten was present when the trio met with a kugraw mercenary named Niles, as well as when he led them to an exodeist scientist, Hopes Quixotically, to better understand Val's hallucinations. Ten was the first to join Val when he declared his intent to travel to Umbra in search of answers. As the others joined in, Niles told them that they would need a Vaulter if they were going to explore Architect ruins.

While Niles and Val set off to recruit the Vaulter, Ten, Quix, and Note purchased new clothing and supplies for Val and Ten, as all of their possessions had been destroyed on Jantii. Quix fabricated clothing to Val's specifications, and Ten and Note discussed the implications of the few memories Note still had. Meeting back at the Mercantile's dockyards, Ten met the team's newcomers, Isaak and Chellor, both Vaulters that would help in exploring the temple on the dead moon. Once they'd all boarded Niles' ship, the *Manta*, the new crew set out into the Umbra.

While traveling to the Umbra, Ten and Val shared a heartfelt conversation about their mutual pain over losing Prag, and spent the night together on a couch in the *Manta's* lounge.

#### **The Dead Moon**

Upon arrival at the dead moon in the Umbra, Ten and the others discovered evidence of an Imperial camp, the same camp Prag had spoken of, outside the temple. The *Manta* crew then descended into the temple and found the chamber where Val's Chrysalis had been. In the same room, an AI designated as Ouroboros appeared and revealed the truth that Val and Note came from the Architect civilization.

A creature living on the moon attacked them, and Ten ran with Niles and Val into the temple's archives. There, all three witnessed a recorded warning from the original Valentine before Val succumbed to a seizure and had to be carried out to safety, all of them escaping with the others through the facility's gateway, but not before Ten was nearly eaten by the beast.

#### **The Cell's Attack**

Ten reconciled with Val after he woke up for his behavior in the temple, then was present with the crew when they emerged from null space and witnessed the Cell attacking the Mercantile. After the *Manta* crash-landed inside the station, she and some of the others were chased along with Val through the Scrubs. She and val eventually fell into a water canal where she reassured him that none of the events transpiring were his fault, and stating that she didn't think she could live without him. A cell pursued them through the canal to a crossway, and Ten was pushed by Val into one path while he took the other to draw the cell's attention.

Ten later reconvened with the *Manta* crew, informing them of Val's actions and how he had been captured by the Cell. She and everyone else was rallied by Note to board the ship and chase after them to save Val.

#### **Eden**

After the *Manta* followed the Cell flagship through the energy cloud surrounding the Rings of Eden, the ship was shot down, and Ten and the others were forced to pursue the Cell and Val on foot. Ten watched Val being thrown through a Tear, and joined the others in jumping through. On the other side, she realized that the Rings were merely a Tear-Gate to the true Eden where the Sensus had been lying dormant for millennia.

While Isaak and Niles fought the Sensus' wraiths, Ten spoke to an unconscious and dying Val, giving him encouragement to continue fighting his mental battle against the Cell. Her act inspired the others to join in, and Val eventually woke up and embraced her. The *Manta* crew traveled back through the Tear to Spectra where Val and Note closed the Gate. The ensuing explosion of null energy damaged the *Manta* and stranded everyone in space for several weeks before they were picked up by a Hegemony patrol and arrested.

## **Personality**

Ten is compassionate and empathetic towards others, something rarely seen for others of her race outside of the concern for members of their own species. She is fiercely protective and loyal as shown by her friendship with Val, and refuses to abandon those she cares about.

## **Trivia**

• Ten has three syllables in her name, but refuses to share what they are.

• In the original draft of the first book, Ten's name was 'Bo'. This name has since been used for the ruling family of the Irvagaleni Empire.

• She was intended to be killed off in the same attack that killed Prag, but instead became a main character because she was so well-received by readers.

• Some readers have speculated that Ten is the 'missing princess' of the Irvagaleni Empire, though there's no solid evidence to back up this theory.