Lorinada Hontbyn

**Lorinada Hontbyn** was a female Northern Liahudi and the former main astrogator of the *Cleesha*. She turned out to be the secret apprentice of Mrkos Brorsen all along and committed various acts of terror before being killed by former *Cleesha* crewmate, Kijas Zakowo.

## Appearance

Lorinada often appeared in a dark or red skintight jumpsuit and military boots. She was slender and rather muscular, bearing testament to her hard early life on Palunt.

## Personality

Lorinada's personality and traits often reflected her dark hair and steely eyes, as well as her typically red outfits. While on the *Cleesha*, she was mostly laid-back and somewhat cold, remaining either aloof or darkly humorous towards her associates when not on the bridge; but often pandered to her carnal desires by flirting with her male counterparts — especially Kijas Zakowo (indeed, she later seduced him before murdering him...almost). She was ambitious and calculating, with stone-solid determination when it came to a mission or a personal goal, and could become sarcastic and snippy in strenuous times. She also displayed certain domineering and manipulative traits, though not to an extreme level.

## Skills

She was most proficient in astrogation, and also possessed skills in electrical work, programming, and close-quarters combat. As well as professional astrogation, she was skilled in many other ground and intelligence venues; she was a high-level hacker, firearms combatant, and unarmed combatant. During her escapades on Palunt as a teenager, she managed to hack into the system of an attacking mafia group and redirected an entire siege unit so they would leave her village alone.

Lorinada preferred to keep herself in peak physical condition at all times, even when the *Cleesha* would go on long and uneventful mining expeditions. She often went through combat simulators, worked out in simulated-reality gyms, or practiced unarmed combat with a robotic sparring partner (or an unwitting associate, which was often Kijas). She was also a proficient linguist, speaking fluent English, Basic, Braatic, and Rabeilu, along with her natural language of Anczica, and was in the process of learning three others.

## History

### Early *Cleesha* work

Lorinada joined the crew of the *Cleesha* on February 23rd, 3020 alongside Kijas. Her very first job as a crewmember pertained to rewiring the elevators, which she did with surprising speed.

### Final flight of the *Cleesha*

Lorinada played a large part during the tragic mission to Zamoes—the *Cleesha's* final voyage before decommissioning. Nobody could have guessed that her part was that of the primary antagonist, and this revelation shocked those who thought they knew her; even Frank had considered her to be the most sane crewmember.

#### Plot origins

While the crew was toiling away with getting the *Cleesha* prepared for its final mission, Lorinada secretively planted explosives in four places before launch, casually appearing to be checking electrical terminals.

#### Plot execution

Shortly after arrival in the Zamoes System, Lorinada detonated the bombs—first in the port bow below the hangar, and then the other three in the stern. While everyone was busy putting out fires in the reactor section, she hacked into the *Cleesha's* mainframe and locked all navigational controls so the *Cleesha* would remain on a course for the system's sun. She then went to visit the lone Kijas in the damaged crew quarters section; she had claimed the desire to assist him, much to his delight. Instead of a friendly encounter, however, she stabbed him repeatedly in the abdomen and then rammed his head against the wall before throwing him to the floor. Her actions were very close to fatal; he would have died if not for the prompt medical assistance that was needed to resuscitate and stabilize him.

#### Escape

Utilizing a mining drone that she had modified to act as an escape pod, she launched herself out of the *Cleesha* and into jumpspace very quickly. She had also tampered with the *Cleesha's* sensors so they would read an error instead of a drone launch, buying her even more time.

### Reign of terror

Shortly after Mrkos Brorsen's death on July 7, 3022, Lorinada revealed herself to be the secret apprentice of the madman. She marked her ascension to his throne by bombing a school on Elotesil and carrying out more public acts of terror for the following five months, killing over two million people.

### Death

However, her reign ended on December 15 when she was killed, ironically, by Kijas Zakowo—the guy she almost successfully killed when she betrayed the *Cleesha* crew.