Oona Groth

Age - 16-ish

Oona is one of two daughters of a Twi’Lek trader named Arel Groth. When several of his ships were destroyed by separatist raid, -at least that’s what the official report says-, his creditor, a Rodian Banker (Read: ‘Crime Lord’) named Igbo, called in his loans and chose to ‘offset’ his debts against Arel’s daughters; aged 11 and 6 at the time. Igbo had recently acquired the debts and had become the ‘insurer’ of the various cargoes. Groth suspected foul play and was working through the Rylothian legal system to get the debts annulled. As he suspected, the whole thing was a scam engineered by Igbo. Through his extensive business and political contacts Groth was close to victory when he was killed in a speeder crash. Another speeder collided with him at high speed, both men died at the scene. Suspiciously, both the flight recorders and autopilot recorders were also destroyed -a highly unusual occurrence.

Oona and her younger sister, Reena, were shipped off to Igbo’s Palace on New Plympto to be trained as ‘Dancing Girls’ by his then favourite Biba, who got sold on to Jabba the Hutt once Oona came of age. Once she turned 15 Oona was performing for Igbo and his cronies. He also used her for honey-traps, spying and theft. As she grew in competence he allowed her a longer-than-usual leash as he could prevent her attempting to escape by holding her sister as hostage to her good behaviour.

Igbo runs a major operation from New Plympto, as it lies close to the Corellian Trade Spine, the Corellian Run and the Hydian way. He controls a lot of smugglers, a sizeable share of the slave trade as well as the usual protection rackets and street crime. He is more than usually vindictive, cruel and unpleasant. He will hunt people down for minor infractions; employing the best bounty hunters for trivial matters. All of which bolsters his reputation and the fear of those under his power. Thus far his attentions have not reached as far as Reena, though this cannot last much longer; she is now 16 and has begun dancing, (but nothing more) for Igbo and his guests. Oona realises that this cannot last for much longer and wants to free her sister from the clutches of the vile gangster.

She was recently placed with the Corellian Officer Vin Lassit as part of a deal Igbo made with the separatists. Lassit was blackmailed into using his position to move people and goods around the Galaxy in a manner that was above suspicion, in one of the Republic’s own warships, the Tenacity. Oona’s job was to keep an eye on the Commander and undertake any missions he or his controller, a Bothan rogue named Kothis Ber’aya (not that he ever used his real name) chose.

*Spoiler* This is the background to episode CSI Tenacity

Her last task for Ber’aya was to get aboard a tramp freighter named ‘Storm Cutter’ which had been involved in foiling a number of separatist plots and find out what they knew and whether they were carrying some force-suppressing ingots. She chose to try and seduce the co-pilot, a Jedi Service Corps operative. She succeeded admirably and spent the night on the ship. While Niall slept, his slumber helped by a slow acting narcotic agent in her lipstick, she searched the ship; her instincts leading her unerringly to the ingots. She could not crack the security on the computer logs though. However Niall told her most of what she needed to know. She reported to Ber’aya who instructed her to stick close to the Republic agents. When they uncovered the plot and confronted the conspirators she drew her blaster but for some time could not decide which side to join in on. Eventually she went with her heart, and turned on her former masters. Of course by then Lassit had surrendered and the Bothan had been killed. She explained what she knew about the plan and how they were planning to escape the imminent attack of a separatist fleet using a shuttle with a modified transponder.

Oona looks exactly the way a Twi’Lek Dancing girl is expected to look: Beautiful, sensual, seductive and bad. She is however unusual. From an early age she showed signs of being more than just charming and perceptive. Her instincts bordered on the uncanny at times. It wasn’t until Niall was searching for the ingots that he detected another disturbance in the Force. His new lover was a Force Adept; which is giving him some other, -entirely respectable- ideas. This came as something of a shock to him, not to mention her! She has enjoyed her stint as a Republic officer. The men don’t bother her, unless she asks them too. She is shown respect and not beaten for unknown mistakes. She also prefers the uniform to a gold bikini and also appreciates the ethos behind the Republic and its Jedi guardians. What a pity they look like they are going to lose the war to crooks like Igbo! She is training more formally with Jedi Mistress Tisha Luce, alongside Niall, now accepted as a Padawan. As Niall’s trials approach she has been placed with her own Jedi master, an Iktotchi, named Master Led Hamoge.

Oona is a blue skinned Twi’lek with vivid green eyes. She is on the small side for a which contributes to her lack of confidence. Her life has left her with little, though that is slowly changing. Respect, love and a lack of dread are bringing her out of her shell. Plus her new best friend Kory has given her some useful skills. They get on well despite Oona’s fears of any history she might have with Niall and the fact that she gives every impression of being a heartbreaker. -Actually they have a lot in common. Her sister Reena has a more greenish skin tint with red eyes.