Ankhita

* Normal
* Microgravity

***A stranded mercenary.***

**Ankhita Casetta** is one of the major characters in *Citizen Sleeper*.

## Background

A seasoned mercenary, Ankhita is currently stuck on Erlin's Eye together with her ship, The Ambergris. A routine job gone wrong led to her vehicle getting shot up. She moored the Ambergris at the Eye, only for someone to slice the ship's shipmind core out from under her, leaving her stranded. The merc crew she hired for the job signed off the moment it became apparent that the Amber was stuck - leaving Ankhita with a ton of repairs to do, a shipmind to source, and growing mooring fees from Havenage; fees she can't pay off without scrapping the ship and vacating the dock.

By the time the Sleeper comes upon her, Ankhita is pissed off and in the middle of slowly repairing her ship to working condition.

## Appearance and personality

Ankhita is a towering presence in her flight suit and powered armor, covered in ceramic plating and capable of absorbing falls from extreme heights. Paired with a no-nonsense personality and a stubborn, focused attitude, Ankhita is a terror when you get on her bad side - and a reliable ally if you don't.

## Interactions

### The Fix Job

* Ankhita is encountered in the Rotunda, after exploring it. She is stranded there together with The Ambergris, her ship, and needs help to get moving. This starts off a new drive, Fix the Ambergris. Fixing up the ship is just step one in the drive, though, as you will also need to source a Shipmind for her, as the thief who sliced the shipmind did so in a crude fashion, wrecking the connectors and wires.

### Finding Ashton

* Once the Ambergris is fixed, Ankhita will reveal that she identified the thief, one of her former crew members, Ashton Kaeda. She knows he went to the ground in the Greenway - and knows that he'll spot the Ambergris coming from a mile away. She offers the Sleeper a job as a merc: Find Ashton in the Greenway. The drive requires access to the other side of the station and crossing the Founder's Gap. Once you complete the clocks and locate Ashton, the Sleeper will come under fire and Ankhita may arrive as the cavalry. If not, you can have the Sleeper follow in - and find Ashton, Ankhita's shipmind, and another Sleeper (who is unnamed in the game, but who is referred to in The Art of Citizen Sleeper as Sleeper Zero), connected to the shipmind.
* Ankhita will arrive, either as cavalry or after tracking the headset. Regardless of what you choose to do, the confrontation ends in violence, as Ashton makes a move and Ankhita reflexively defends herself, killing him and ripping the shipmind connection out of Sleeper Zero's head. Killing Ashton and Sleeper Zero breaks Ankhita, and sours relations between her and the Sleeper. They part ways, leaving Ankhita to come to terms with her life as a violent mercenary.

### After Ashton

* Once you complete Bliss' drives regarding getting her operation back on its feet, Moritz will reach out to you one cycle and mention that there's a new big job to undertake (despite Bliss swearing up and down that she'll take no more big jobs). As it turns out, Ankhita wants the Ambergris disarmed: Cutting out defense arrays, weapon lockers, ship-to-ship countermeasures. The whole lot. Ankhita can't afford to pay for the job, but has arranged for an alternative method of payment - Ankhita will take Bliss with her when she leaves the Eye. This big job is the first step on the path to redemption for Ankhita, and completing it will lead to one of the possible endings, where the Sleeper can leave with Ankhita and Bliss for the Starward Belt.

## Quotes

She pauses. This is hard for her, but you don't want to interrupt.
"Well, I'm sick of paying the cost. I'm sick of being used as an extension of something bigger, something crueller than me. And having that cruelty, that violence flow through me. I just want... to be me for a while." She looks down. "Or at least figure out who that is."
She takes a deep breath.
"So what I'm saying is you can get off at the first port we hit in the Belt. I wouldn't blame you, it's a smart move." She pauses. "Or you can stick around and we'll see if we can find a way to make space for all of us." She looks away, her energy exhausted.