Age: "Late 50s... shut up"
Vital Stats:
Height: 5'8"
Weight: Unknown
Hair: Strawberry blonde (naturally dishwater blonde/brown but nano bots keep it red)
Eyes: Blue
Skin: Caucasian
Place of Birth: Poznan, Poland - Earth
Parents:
Mother: Terese "Tess" Kellow-Ryder
Father: Leo Ryder
Siblings:
Nicholas Noel, Dominic Leonard, Jennifer Therese - eldest
Anthony - fraternal twin
Spouse: Noonian "Khan" Singh
Ex-husband: Thomas Edwin
Children: None - currently
Education:
Undergrad Studies: Marquette University - Wisconsin, Earth
Graduate and Doctorate Studies - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Earth
Military Record: None - Military Contractor Only
Employment: Chief Executive Officer/Head of Development - AlphaTek Industries
AlphaTek Science Division. Chief Science Officer
WIST - Show Host "The Science Chick"
-
Background -
Natasha was born during a trip to Poland to visit some of the family relations living there. She and her twin brother Tony were born only seconds apart due to a complication in which their cords wrapped around each other, Tony's foot made it out first, but her head came out first. They like to tease each other over who's truly the oldest of the bunch.
A born prodigy, Natasha was playing piano at age three and violin by the time she was six years old. As the second set of twins in the family, she got particularly close to her brother and was nearly inseparable from him until they were 12 years old. When both got into school and started making more friends. While Tony has always been more of an engineer/tinkerer, Natasha was more introspective and wanted to know not just how things worked but why. Excelling at chemistry and physics, Natasha balanced her love of the sciences with a deep religious faith. As she knew that while science could and has explained many things, she still couldn't discount 'the first cause in a clearly intelligent design'.
As she got older and more attractive, she used that to her advantage, using her looks to get her private time with other scientists and engineers to learn more about their methods and experiments. When she graduated high school, she had ten colleges vying for her application, but she instead chose Marquette University due to its proximity to a Great Lake and the fact that at the time, a descendant of the Montgomery Scott family was teaching there and its Science and Engineering departments got a huge boost. Plus - she liked that it was close to the family home which she eventually bought.
After finishing her under-grad studies, her twin brother convinced her to join him at MIT, and so she did. Working through to her doctorate and eventually finishing as the valedictorian of her class. Again Tony teased her, that it was because of her looks that she was chosen to be the valedictorian. Which she would counter with, "Aww you think I'm pretty that's so sweet... and true.", since her class was made up primarily of men and only three other females, a Bolian and a Benzite.
Eventually she took on the role of Chief Science Officer within the company Tony and Nick formed, AlphaTek an advanced technology firm. She helped develop some of the chemical compounds used in their weapons and propulsion technology. Including a thin, yet durable chemical mesh webbing that forms the basis of the under-armor for all AlphaTek armor systems.
Recently she was tapped to be the host of a Science and Technology show as "Natalia the Science Chick" - where she would present state of the art technology and theories to high school and college students. After her divorce, a marriage that lasted ten years, she was flattered that people still found her attractive enough, especially in her fifties. For the past five years she's done the show all around the quadrant and with the Terra Alpha project in full swing, she's relocating to Terra Alpha to document the scientific discoveries and projects.
And more than a little jealous that her twin brother shaved about 25 years off his life thanks to some kind of regression - a process she's keenly interested in studying.
Natalia Ryder and Rebecca Sandoval
When her brothers divested their shares of AlphaTek to her and with equal shares going to each of their children, Natalia was made the new CEO and shifted her focus to making AlphaTek 'her' company. Starting numerous new divisions and encouraging younger developers and female developers. After Synthetic Dilithium was discovered by Frost Industries and following its owner's passing, the two companies merged and AlphaTek Systems was re-named AlphaTek Industries. With the additional resources, facilities and manpower, AlphaTek now is the main supplier of 'Syn-D' crystals to the Terra Alpha Navy and allied vessals.
Natalia and a recently discovered 'alternate' Khan Noonian Singh began a romantic relationship, which recently culminated in marriage and a child on the way. Noonian now heads up the Bio-Med Science division and assists where he can with Augment and bio-implant research and treatments.