Reth Tenit

**DT-13**, also known as Thirteen and later named Reth Tenit by the Nova Squad members, was a Human male commando and First Order defector during the First Order conflict. He served as the pilot and mechanic of his ship the *Dark Starlight* alongside the Darkstar Squad.

## Biography

### Early life

Reth was born on Aldus IV, eight years after the Battle of Endor, to parents he never knew. They fled to the Unknown Regions along with others in a fleet of the Imperial Remnant, which became lost until they were brought to the myserious Aldus System. The fleet, led by Rear Admiral Eridan Lasker, settled there away from the indigenous species for a time. His parents abandoned him in the elements, but he was saved by Lasker before the First Order were able to collect and absorb most of them.

Like all First Order soldiers, he grew up with no memory of his family and was placed in an intense training regimen, where he excelled in spacial awareness, marksmanship, and especially hand-to-hand combat. He qualified for all major specializations until being selected for the experimental Dark Trooper project at the age of eight-years-old. The purpose of the project was to develop a corps of power-armored soldiers capable of infiltrating and subduing military targets with minimal numbers and even combat Force-Users.

### Darktrooper Family

Under the watchful eye of Admiral Eridan Lasker, overseer of the project, DT-13 thrived and excelled the most in intense bladed combat using the Z-10 electroblade, a deadlier variant of the Z-6 shock baton. He became captain of his Alpha Squadron at eighteen while being able to function as mechanic and pilot of their long-range mission craft, a Fury-class Heavy Interceptor designated *Dark Starlight*.

Thirteen learned to function effectively in a small unit of six, all with differing talents instead of a uniform standard. He was able to develop actual friendships with them, as well as a trust that transcended typical squad mentality. Eridan Lasker took care of those in his stewardship and became a father figure to many of them.

### Broken Family

With two years of final and very rigorous training missions, the first Darktroopers were ready to be deployed. To oversee their final training phase, General Armitage Hux brought them orders to neutralize a New Republic reconnaissance base on Bastirven IV to prepare the sector for invasion. It was a resourceful and lush planet on the edges of known space just outside of the Unknown Regions.

Due to unknown circumstances, DT-13 became incredibly aware of his surroundings, like a lifted fog. He became aware of individuals as well, feeling an aura of malic from the First Order. They carried on with their mission, however. With a cloaked ship, precision, speed, and brutality, the New Republic was never warned of the First Order's takeover of the planet until it was announced by the new puppet government as a "formal withdrawal" and a "peaceful alliance." There they began to reap the solar system of its resources to build new ships and burden the people on the world with taxes and indentured servitude.

While Thirteen's team accepted the honors from the military hierarchy, including General Hux, DT-13 couldn't accept such results from his orders. He became aware of the malice of Hux and his contemporaries. He held himself at a higher standard, a standard Lasker himself taught: "That which is right will lead to peace."

Thirteen decided to leave to find that peace. His more obedient contemporaries could not understand why. They understood Lasker's teaching differently and cared for Thirteen enough to want him to stay. Quietly, he escaped with the *Starlight* before Alpha Squadron had to return to First Order space.

## Personality and traits

Reth grew up with discipline, apparent for a First Order soldier and thus exhibited a high standard in appearance and manner. In his dress, he favored practicality, however. He preferred wearing his lightly armored black flightsuit, which offered mobility while being sharp and fashionable.

While a tactical thinker and an obedient soldier, he developed a habit of questioning motives and intent, creating some layer of distrust that could be removed if one earned it. His disposition was towards protecting others, particularly his friends, and thus he wouldn't avoid being in the way of blaster fire so long as he had a shield of some sort.

## Powers and abilities

Reth developed a high level of physical conditing to become a deadly weapon in the hands of the First Order. He had high proficiency with blasters, but superior hand-to-hand and blade combat skills to any Darktrooper in the Corps. His reflexes not only helped him with combat on foot, but in space as well, having a high proficiency in starfighter piloting and space combat.

More mundanely, Reth knew plenty about ship and weapon mechanics to perform effective maintenance and quick lasting repairs.

## Equipment

Reth utilized his skill with blasters using a Sonn-Blas F-22c blaster rifle, the First Order successor to the Imperial E-22 shoretrooper rifle. It featured an extended top barrel for accurate sniper and burst fire configurations. His sidearm was an SE-44h heavy blaster pistol, a heavier and more powerful variant of the standard 44c with the added benefit being silencable thanks to its large-bore reinforced barrel.

His favored weapon was an X-10 techblade set; a pair of two-edged vibroblades, one long and one short, for dual-wielding. The blades were able to parry and hold against lightsabers through its phrik alloy and a small repulsion field along the edge. The longer blade featured a crossguard that could slide down the length of the hilt, which hid switchblades on its edges. This made the sword very effective using a reverse handgrip.

With his techblade, he also utilized a collapsible, kite-shaped shield gauntlet the length of his forearm which could extend lower sections to form a forked shield with a blaster barrel between them. In its collapsed form, it could be put away as a pauldron.

Most powerful in his arsenal was a suit of Nihilus-class power armor. The helm was sharper and more angular, coated in black reflec material, its visor a threatening red, and standing nearly at 2.13 meters. It could move autonomously without the wearer and fit most body types inside of its exoskeleton. Its metal plating could withstand most blaster fire, especially with its pauldron mounted heavy shield, able to deflect lightsabers most effectively. The micro-hydraulic motors in the joints allowed it to punch through durasteel and bear thousands of pounds of pressure while inertial dampeners protected the wearer. The main drawbacks of the armor suffered was its power capacity, only able to last on a single charge of twentyfour standard hours of continuous use, and its lack of insulation made it susceptible to electrical discharge and ion weapons.

## Image gallery

Commissioned art done by Yeiko (Instagram: @yeiko\_art)Colored by ImtheSteve