Antaya Ordo

Antaya Ordo, known more commonly by her military callsign Manka Cat, was a former Mandalorian warrior who defected to the Republic and became one of its most loyal troopers. Born to two Mandalorians from Clan Ordo, Antaya was never a firm believer in the Mandalorian ways, and an incident with a Sith Lord caused her to join the ranks of the  Galactic Republic and fight for a good cause.

Early Life
Antaya was born on the planet of Ordo, which was the homeworld of Clan Ordo. When she was only a young child, her father was killed by an unknown individual. This drove her mother to the verge of insanity. Unable to deal with her grief, her mother assaulted the pirate base where her husband was last seen, causing her to be killed as well. Ever since then, her uncle raised her.

Never believing much in the Mandalorian way, Antaya would rather fight for a reason rather than fight pointlessly and simply for fun. However, her uncle died when she was only seventeen, forcing her to find a way to live in the galaxy. Like many other Mandalorians, she resorted to bounty hunting.

After working for almost five years, mainly for the  Hutt Cartel, Antaya and another Mandalorian was hired by a Sith Lord named Darth Vintus to discreetly take out a Republic senator visiting the neutral world of Tatooine. They managed to successfully kill him and his guards, but was seen by a mother and her child.

Vintus instructed the pair to eliminate all witnesses, however Antaya refused to do so. The other bounty hunter, however, eagerly shot both the mother and her daughter, This caused Antaya to detest the Empire and completely lose faith in the Mandalorian culture. Horrified by what had transpired, she defected to the Republic, informing them of the Empire's role in the assassination of their senator.

Service to the Republic
Antaya pleaded to be involved in the action once more, and wanted to fight for a worthy cause, like the Republic's. Her skills qualified her for service in the Republic military. Unsure of her loyalty, the Republic carefully placed her in the care of some of their most veteran soldiers who continiously tested her as they were deployed to deal with the rising crisis on Ord Mantell.

However, much to everyone's surprise, Antaya performed above and beyond the call of duty, being a vital asset to her squad and even risking her life to save locals and a fellow soldier on more than one occassion. Her loyalty no longer in question, she was made a full Republic trooper and given the rank of Private. She earned the callsign of Manka Cat for how deadly she was in combat.

After another month of operation, her squad was pulled out as the region was overwhelmed. Unwilling to leave Ord Mantell as she wished to continue the fight, she stayed behind and was reassigned to Squadron 419. The squad, although consisting of various races, was almost exclusively male, and Antaya was the only female. The squad's leader, Commander Halvern, assigned Antaya to be the rearguard as the squad went to rescue villagers from a possible hostage situation. Antaya was less than happy with the placement, which was an obvious act of discrimination, though she followed her orders loyally.

However, the mission turned out to be a trap. The building was rigged with bombs and seperatists lay in ambush. Almost the entire squad was brutally massacred. Manka Cat managed to pull Halvern from the rubble and the two escaped the firefight, but he was severely injured and no longer able to serve in the military.

Antaya was furious at Halvern for positioning her as the rearguard, as she believed she may have saved more people, perhaps the entire squad if she was allowed to be with the others. Her heroic actions in saving Halvern earned her a promotion to Corporal.

Manka Cat was given a month to rest, during which she contemplated deeply. She obtained special permission to wear her personal Mandalorian armour instead of Republic trooper equipment. Installing a voice modifier, she pretended to be a human male, returning to the battlefield two weeks before schedule. This time, she vowed to never stay in the back and watch her comrades fall.

Personality and Traits
Antaya, though born and raised a Mandalorian, did not accept her people's ways and eventually left them to join the Republic. The Mandalorians of the time believed in fighting for the pure sake of it, not to win or lose or gain anything in the process. Antaya disagreed, thinking that she should fight when she has a reason to do so, and a good cause to fight for.

Nevertheless, she still possesses many traits that is common among Mandalorians, including an interest in combat. Despite her unwillingness to fight for no purpose, she still enjoys combat when she does engage in it. She also acts considerably like a Mandalorian, habits from her upbringing, and agrees strongly with Mandalorian's non-discrimination of species or gender. As she stated, it is probably the one part of Mandalorian culture that she admires.

In military life, Antaya is a down-to-the-point and no-nonsense soldier, and loyally takes commands (except unless they are overly outrageous, such as when she was being ordered to murder a mother and her child). However, she is not completely devoid of humour. She is not very talkative, believing in acting rather than speaking.

After witnessing the discrimination present in society, most noticeably Halvern's command for her, possibly the most experienced warrior in the squad, to stay in the rearguard, Antaya has decided to masquerade as a man.

Personal Appearance
Antaya is a tall and muscular human female due to her genetic heritage and her upbringing as a Mandalorian. Due to her broad shoulders and height, she can easily pass off for a man, and her gender is indistinguishable when wearing armour, especially her personal set. When not wearing her helmet, Antaya usually sports short hair and has a visible scar on her left cheek.

Ever since the incident with Halvern, Manka Cat has never removed her helmet while on-duty, mainly to mask her identity. She rarely speaks of her origins and past, leading her to have a mysterious appearance.

Abilities
Antaya is extremely skilled with most forms of blaster weaponry, and is proficient from anything ranginging from a pistol to a blaster cannon. Mostly, she prefers to use a blaster rifle in combat, as they were heavier than many other blaster types, but not as clumsy and difficult to handle as a blaster cannon. Antaya is also capable of using close range weapons such as vibroblades, and usually carries at least one vibroknife on her.

Manka Cat has many other skills aside from combat, most distinguishably her skills in demolitions and handling explosives. She is adept with most forms of technology and is capable enough to maintain and repair her own armour.

Equipment
Antaya's trademark set of armour is her personal Mandalorian one. Set apart from regular Mandalorian armour, her helmet lacks the distinctive T-shaped visor, something she purposely removed after dissassociating herself with her people. Her helmet, as she stated, was a cross between a Mandalorian one and a Republic trooper helmet.

As well as her personal suit of armour, she has also donned a set of regular trooper armour when she first began working for the Republic.