Rick Bender
| Rick Bender | |
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Race | Naboo |
| Homeworld | Naboo |
| Mother | Damalia Gallo |
| Father | Vance Bender |
| Marital Status | Single |
| Born | Year -3 Day 76 |
| Languages | Galactic Basic
Naboo Futhork Gungan Basic Trade Federation Basic Bocce Falleen Kaleesh |
| Quote | "Two thieves need no introduction." |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 1.78 m |
| Weight | 74 kg |
| Hair Color | Light Brown |
| Eye Color | Blue |
| Political Information | |
| Affiliation | Theed University
Bondsman's Guild |
| Title | Ph.D. |
| Prior Affiliation | Mummers |
Rick Bender is a human male from the city of Theed on planet Naboo. Known aliases include Shane Cage, Steven Dirtfarmer, Laurentius Yolo, Guapo, and R.L.
Bender is a Master Bounty Hunter of the Bondsman's Guild and a freelance HoloNet archivist.
Youth
Rickard Laurentius Bender is the only son of Vance Bender and Damalia, née Gallo, of Theed. Born on the 76th day of Year 3 BCGT, his birth was never officially reported. This is not uncommon among the Royal Naboo, who value their privacy and are typically reluctant to have personal affairs recorded. This was especially true during the era of the Galactic Civil War.
Education
A typical Naboolian, Rick Bender was home-schooled until the age of seven and was then enrolled in Theed's Royal House of Learning for five years of primary education. After passing the exams at the age of twelve, he continued on to the Theed School of Technology and Engineering and entered mandatory community service as a squire in the Theed Engineering Corps of the Royal Naboo Security Forces. While individual service and academic records are routinely kept by these institutions, Bender's records were part of an infocache that was stolen or deleted during a cyber attack perpetrated by the crime ring known as the Skaak Tippers in Year 17 CGT.
Despite this unfortunate setback, Rick Bender was able to pass the entrance exams for Theed University at the age of twenty-one, where he majored in information science. Bender's university transcripts indicate that he was a borderline discipline case with multiple behavioural infractions during his enrollment. The Board of Deans frequently cited Bender for violating alcohol and drug policies, engaging in disruptive behaviour, colluding to violate campus policies, gaining unauthorized access to rooftops and female dormitories, and possessing weapons. The citations resulted in numerous formal warnings, fines, and more than one period of academic probation. In spite of these disciplinary actions and additional attendance issues, Bender earned a GCI Master ranking on the collegiate dejarik team and graduated magna cum laude at the end of Year 23. Reviewed by the Viceroy personally, Bender's dissertation was accepted and published on Day 100 of Year 24.
Nomad
While the faculty at Theed anticipated that Rick Bender would embark on a career as an archivist or engineer, he subverted their expectations by deciding instead to expand his horizons by going abroad. Bender had long discussed a desire to visit some of the galaxy's great wonders, such as the Floating Rock Garden of Ryloth, the Oracle of Pelgrin, and the Fountain of the Ancients. To earn income along the way, he attended a three-week boot camp hosted by the Star City Police, which qualified him to purchase a license from the Bondsman's Guild to track and recover fugitives from justice. This move surprised his peers, as Bender was not known for being particularly athletic. However, Bender developed a strategy that worked well for him. While not a great warrior himself, he surrounded himself with people who were. Bender quickly rose through the ranks of the Bondsman's Guild and is respected in the trade. He is particularly keen on rescue missions, as the hostages often turn out to be fellow academics.
Following a visit to the B`omarr Monastery on Tatooine, Rick Bender stopped at a cantina on Issor, where he had a chance encounter with Val Aen. Over several rounds of drinks, Bender mentioned having recently received his doctoral regalia and was offered a position on the board of directors of the Autonomous Claim, a small resource firm in the Outer Rim. As a majority of the work could be performed remotely, Bender graciously accepted and was appointed Chief Data Officer. Aen and Bender fast became friends, sharing a mutual love for glimmik, games, and wagers. The two frequently bet on games of Pazaak and Sabacc, but after a night of some merriment, Val Aen challenged Rick Bender to a game of dejarik. The stakes grew unusually high, and Bender used a Strider gambit to win ownership of the company. Once the title transfer was complete on Day 122 of Year 24, Bender rebranded the company as Mummer Salvage (MS), or simply "Mummers."
Mummers
The Mummers are a group known to the Royal Naboo Security Forces as a criminal organisation. Despite claims that they are legitimate merchants, Mummer Salvage was soon blacklisted by a handful of bounty hunting agencies that complained about Naboo bootleggers from the Enarc Run serving unlicensed refreshments at their establishments. Several barmaids were simply ejected from the premises, although a few were murdered. Rick Bender arranged those services and hired the bartenders. As a result of being burned, Bender was left in the custody of three rescued hostages, whom he was prevented from delivering to the Bondsman's Guild. He issued a challenge, citing a violation of the Bounty Hunters Creed, but it would not be answered. So in Year 25, he famously smuggled the hostages past a Smugglers Guild blockade and turned them over to the Bondsmen. Bender spent a week in a containment field for trespassing, but he has never expressed remorse.
Although Rick Bender was a novice businessman, his training in engineering and data management proved useful, and Mummer Salvage did prosper under his brief leadership. Salvaging operations at "the Claim" were expanded to include three new recycling stations, and both Centrepoint and Trade Federation commercial accounts gained value. The Mummers Compendium, published in a local Naboo gazette, went galactic in Year 24 with a critique of interstellar bounty hunting hubs, ranking each agency with a three-star system for the menu, the atmosphere, and the service. Bender inspects the featured taverns himself, offering his services as a consultant to the proprietors of struggling pubs. Bender's testimony indicates that the bootlegging charges are directly related to what he refers to as his tavern rescue project, and the courts have chosen not to pursue the matter.
But in Year 25, just before Rick Bender's smuggling stunt, the criteria for corporate licensing changed, and the Mummers were faced with losing their salvaging rights. The members of Bender's cabinet excused themselves from the board and retired to Naboo, where they were then replaced by engineers and clerks from Cantras Gola. Rick Bender changed the firm's brand to Ithilleron Exploration and merged the company with an order of Force knights called the Guri-n Krayt.
Guri-n Krayt
Rick Bender initially sat at the board of the Guri-n Krayt as the director of Ithilleron Exploration, the mineral resource and salvaging branch of the order's civil infrastructure. However, his role on the board was sometimes described as the chief archivist or data officer, recruiting liaison, and trade commissioner. Bender himself referred to his job as being the order's "fixer." During his term as a board member, he updated the Guri-n Krayt banner, got them listed on the HoloNet, organised their forums, compiled and indexed the order's archives, standardised Lazy Krayt bounty hubs galaxy-wide, established Guri-n Krayt on the datacard market, reformed the order's recruiting strategy for broader public appeal, directed factory production and mineral refining operations, lobbied for economic reforms, surveyed and mapped Guri-n Krayt territories, developed a new style of urban architecture, and planned strategies for the defence of Cantras Gola.
Unfortunately, a dispute over defence issues in Year 26 led to Bender declaring no confidence in the leadership of the knights after he was formally reprimanded for securing exclusive control of the planetary shield grid for the Guri-n Krayt. The knights felt that Bender had endangered a delicate diplomatic agreement by taking action to consolidate control without the approval of the Dragon Lord, and they worried that he could not be trusted with the order's affairs. Bender, on the other hand, was quoted as saying, "Most royal houses shower their general with honours when he achieves a decisive victory for the court." Bender was expelled from the order by the Dragon Lord Raa`hse Nahk, whose competence he had questioned.
