Soi Len

"I won't let your people survive."

- Soi Len.

Soi Len is the first prominent antagonist of the interstellar sci-fi/fantasy anime series "Outlaw Star".

Overview
"Get them!, kill everyone but Melfina!"

- Soi Len

Soi Len is a member of the 108 Stars, a branch of the Chinese Kei Pirate Guild, serving under Lord Hazanko himself. She commands a squad of at least 6(possibly more) pirates in her group:A Cyborg General, an Elderly Tao Master who acted Soi Len's second in command, The Sunjutsu master Kyokan, and Yase, a pirate ninja. She owns a personal battleship that is extremely modular, which includes the main part acting as a grappler ship, also fully capable ship on it's own. Her ship also includes dropship to carry her and her group down to planet surfaces when on missions. Soi Len is also a powerful Tao Master, aside from basic Tao a abilities, she is mainly proficient in defensive spells, however, she is presumably also quite lethal offensively, hinted to be able to destroy an entire ship. Aside from Tao Magic, she is also a skilled tactician and an able commander. With her magic abilities and ruthless leadership skills, Soi Len is a capable and dangerous enemy to those who dare cross her or the Kei Pirates.

History
"Damn you Hilda-"

- Soi Len

Soi len's past remains shrouded mystery but it would seem that she reached a high level of status and power within the Kei Pirates at an incredibly young age. It is also known that the Kei Pirates(possibly including her group), had had a bad history with an Outlaw named Hilda, who even killed one of the guild's leaders. At the prime of Soi Len's career, her master, Hazanko, was conducting the Leyline Project to eventually obtain the power of the legendary Galactic Leyline. The project proved successful, producing the grappler ship XGP-15A2 and the bio android, Melfina, who would serve as both the navigation system of the ship into the Leyline and also the maiden who would open the gates of the Leyline and gain access to it's power.

However, the project soon faced a major setback, because of an "ambarassing deception" both Melfina and the XGP were stolen by none other than Hilda. Hazanko and the Kei Pirates were intent on retrieving them and thus dispatched Soi Len and her group to eliminate Hilda and recover their property.

Soi Len's group chased Hilda across the galaxy leading to numerous encounters and much bloodshed on both sides.

Start of the series
"Okay, playtime is done now."

- Soi Len

Soi Len and her group eventually cornered Hilda and her ship, Horus, in an unknown star system, her cyborg general and ship captain dispatched pirate cub fighters from her ship to capture Hilda. Although they manages to severely damage and capture Horus, Hilda activated her sub-either drive and escaped, destroying all fighters and killing their occupants, including the squadron's leader. While the Cyborg and Old Man were visibly angered by yet another escape, Soi Len remained silent.

Sentinel III
"Are we very certain that Hilda has fled to this world?, Three days age we assume, if she's avoided all our traps that limits her to this area. Search for her!"

- Soi Len and the Kei Pirates discussing Hilda.

Several days later, after avoid several traps the pirates had set, Hilda made her way to Sentinel III, a backwater agricultural planet in the territory of the Ban Pirate Guild. Unfortunately, the pirates were hot on her trail, a mere 3 days after Hilda's arrival, Soi Len and her group made their way to down to the planet. Soi Len had determined that if Hilda had avoided all their traps they Sentinel III was most likely the only place she could have fled to, and her General dispatched their numerous force of Kei Pirate android foot soldiers to search for her. The androids quickly found Hilda though she managed to evade them for a time.

The following night, Soi Len and her group somehow(possibly through Tao Magic), had been able to determine where Hilda would be travelling to and waited for her on an open rode, sure enough, they corned Hilda along with a young Outlaw named Gene Starwind and his partner Jim Hawking. Although Hilda was wearing a mask, Soi Len wasn't fooled in the slightest and called her out. Hilda threw a grenade at them to create a window to escape and the 3 of them drove off, however, the Old Man quickly and easily shielded the group, leaving them completely unharmed.

Soi Len's Cyborg General volunteered to go after Hilda and her friends and the group utilized their Tao Magic to form the attack. After a long chase, Hilda's party managed to escape once Gene used a caster gun(a special gun that fires magic spells) loaded with a No.3 shell to obliterate the Cyborg and his 6 android escorts. Soi Len was shocked that they had been killed, her second-in-command noting that they had underestimated their opponents.

Showdown in the plains
"I believe I've found them. Let's go."

- Soi Len and the Old Man

Using a Tao spell, Soi Len was able to track Hilda and her group to a wheat storage building in the middle of the farmlands. Upon arriving, the Old Man demanded the group surrender but they were already making arrangements for their escape. After repelling a missile attack, Soi Len dispatch her android forces though they too were slowly repelled, much to her anger.

The Old Man then decided to handle the situation personally, using a powerful Tao Magic spell to summon a ghostly and deadly blue dragon. However, Gene was able to destroy the spell using a No.5 caster shell, Soi Len and the Old Man were puzzled to see old magic out on the frontier. She soon dispatched her remaining androids again but Hilda soon showed up in her dropship and attacked leaving Soi Len with no choice but to order her forces to regroup.

After holding Hilda off with their Tao Magic, Soi Len and the Old Man realized that their adversaries were trying to get away, she ran after them while ordering her forces to pursue but it was too late. Despite closing in and the Old Man summoning another blue dragon, Hilda, Gene, Jim and a recently awaken Melfina, manage to just barely board her dropship and escape the planet.

Soi Len and her group had failed again but were determined to complete their mission, she left Yase and Kyokan on Sentinal III with some androids to act as lookouts in case Hilda or any of her friends returned.

Hiring the MacDougall Brothers
"Thank you Mr. MacDougall."

- Soi Len thanking Ronald MacDougall for finding Hilda.

Never one to give up easily, Soi Len decided to try a different approach in finding Hilda, she hired the notorious MacDougall Brothers, well known Outlaws themselves. MacDougall proved successful, managing to locate where Hilda and her group would be meeting with some friends and thus Soi Len and the guild paid them well. Upon arriving in the system, Soi Len and her group attacked several ships that were waiting there, apparently killing off the last of Hilda's friends. That finished they then waited for Hilda to arrive while planning a trap for her. Hilda came soon enough, and the pirate ship launched a squadron of cub fighters led by the Old Man to attack Horus. From the control hall of her ship, Soi Len observed the battle along with Ron MacDougall, thanking him for his job well done. MacDougall offered further assistance to them but Soi Len declined saying that capturing Hilda was the pirates' job now and that he need not concern himself with what they had planned.

After a brief battle, Hilda once again fled and escaped but what she didn't know was that the battle was merely a distraction and a trap. During the battle, the Old Man was able to brand Hilda's ship, Horus with a Tao spell mark. Now that her ship was branded, the pirates would always be able to track her no matter where she went. Soi Len recalled her fighters and order the ship to begin pursuit once that had all returned. Ron MacDougall asked if she needed help tracking them but she once again declined so MacDougall politely bowed and left. Once the MacDougall brothers' ship had departed, Soi Len and the pirates continued on after Hilda.

Soi Len would have done better to have accepted further help from Ron MacDougall instead of brushing him off, it would be a fatal mistake that would soon come back to haunt her.

The Battle at Farfallas
"We have you now Hilda."

- Soi Len as she and the Kei Pirates captured Hilda.

Using the Tao spell branded on Horus, the pirates were able to track Hilda to a the Farfallas system where Hilda had hidden the XGP in an asteroid hangar near the very star of the system. Now with all their objectives right in front of her, Soi Len dispatched all of her forces to complete her group's mission. She launched all her cub fighters to attack Hilda's ship while the Old Man with a small group of androids were sent to board the asteroid and capture Melfina and the XGP.

While Hilda managed to fare well against the fighters for a time, Soi Len and her ship quickly closed in, she ordered all guns to be locked on Horus and destroy it once the XGP was secured. However, Hilda rotated the asteroid to use as a shield from any attacks. Soi Len was forced to take a more direct approach, she detached the main command module, from her ship and went to face Hilda directly. She managed to capture Horus with her ship's grappler arms, at the same time, the Old Man and the main body of her ship managed to trap the XGP and demanded Gene and others surrender.

The tables turn
"You have double-crossed us!"

- Soi Len enraged.

Just as it seemed Soi Len and the Old Man were on the verge of success, the tables soon turned on them. As the main body of Soi Len's ship was about to capture and disable the XGP with it's anchors, it was soon attacked and destroyed by missiles, the attackers were revealed to be none other than the MacDougall Brothers. Soi Len was shocked to see her recent employees attacking them and asked Ronald MacDougall why he was doing this, but the brothers continued their merciless attack, driving the asteroid, Soi Len's grappler ship, and Horus towards the Farfallas sun.

An enraged Soi Len called out Ron, accusing him of double-crossing the pirates but MacDougall coldly replied that he his brothers' contract with the pirate had ended and that they were now carrying out a new contract; To destroy the XGP. It would latter be revealed that they were hired by the same space forces group that worked with the guild to develop the XGP, they were afraid that their dealings with the pirates would be made public so they hired the brothers to destroy it.

As the situation turned dire, Soi Len's mood went from anger to outright fear, after the Old Man informed her that at the rate they were drifting because of the attack, they would not be able to escape the sun's gravity well, she begged him to return to the ship. The MacDougall brothers then finished the attack by launching a gigantic missile, sending Horus, Soi Len's ship and the asteroid hurling rapidly towards Farfallas.

Scramble for survival
"All engines max!"

- Soi Len

Now in a completely new and dire situation, all the pirates' focus turned to escaping the star's gravity with their lives. Soi Len was informed that the best course of escape, a gravity catapult course around Farfallas would put them too close to a solar flare and would most certainly incinerate their ship. Fully aware of this, she ordered all engines to maximum, deciding the only other option was to try and escape the star's gravity well outright. However, things soon changed when the XGP managed to smash it's way out of the asteroid and began it's own attempt to escape the star's gravity.

After witnessing the ship's powerful engine's, the Old Man decided to take a another group of androids to board the XGP with the pirate ship's grappler arms, intending to finally take it back and use it to escape Farfallas. Unfortunately, this turned out to be another fatal mistake, Gene Starwind fought back, destroying the grappler boarding arm along with it's occupants resulting in the Old Man's death. This left Soi Len without her most trusted second-in-command, it also sent her ship falling fast back into the star.

In a last desperate move, Soi Len launched her ship's anchor and grabbed one of the XGP's grappler arms, leaving it unable to accelerate as it dragged her ship along. It also had the effect of knocking Hilda's dropship below escape velocity as she tried to reach the XGP.

The Endgame
"What are you doing?! Do not interfere!."

- Soi Len's last words.

With only one last chance of survival and success, donning a sealed helmet and encasing herself in a powerful Tao Magic shield to protect her from space, Soi Len took the last three of her android force and abandoned her ship. She intended to board the XGP accomplish what the Old Man failed. She and her force, rode the anchor cable only to find Hilda climbing up it in her own attempt to reach the XGP. Hilda tried to shoot Soi Len but her shield protected her and she attempted to use her magic to push Hilda off the cable but only managed to put strain on it.

The cable soon snapped and Soi Len and Hilda could only scream in horror as the recoil from the XGP's acceleration(now free from the weight of Soi Len's ship) sent them flying towards the star with no hope of escaping it's pull. Although Soi Len was still protected by her shield, she, Hilda, the androids and her ship were slowly sinking into the sun with no chance of escaping it's gravity well. But even at this point, Soi Len wasn't finished.

Knowing she was doomed no matter what, Soi Len, out of anger and malice, refused to let just Hilda's friends survive and decided to make everyone die along with her. She prepared what was presumably her strongest Tao Magic spell to attack the escaping XGP(either to pull it back towards Farfallas below escape velocity or just destroy the ship right there on the spot). However, to the pirate commander's horror, she was stopped by Hilda, who had grabbed onto her leg with a grappling hook.

Soi Len was shocked and asked her what she doing, demanding she not interfere. But Soi Len finally met her end just seconds later when Hilda; after a few last words to Gene, and in true Outlaw fashion, refusing to let the star kill her, detonated a powerful bomb implanted in her teeth, killing both her and Soi Len in a magnificent explosion.

The evil Kei pirate's mission and career had both finally come to a karmic and fitting end. Ironically, because of Soi Len's various actions, she had actually succeeded in ending Hilda's life ultimately at the cost of her own.