Editing Staffan Sentzke

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Character infobox
|variant=Human
|name=Staffan Sentzke
|image=
|homeworld=[[Sansar]]
|birth=
|death=
|causeofdeath=
|parents=
|siblings=
|spouses=[[Lena Sentzke]] (first wife)<br>[[Laura Sentzke]] (second wife)
|children=[[Naomi-010]] (daughter, with Lena)<br>[[Edvin Sentzke]] (son, with Laura)<br>[[Hedda Sentzke]] (daughter, with Laura)
|species=[[Human]]
|gender=Male
|height=
|mass=
|hair=White
|eyes=Gray
|affiliation=[[Insurrectionist]]
|rank=
|sn=
|notable=
}}
'''Staffan Sentzke''' is an [[Insurrectionist]] of Swedish ancestry, operating as one of the largest arms dealers on [[Venezia]] during and after the [[Human-Covenant War]].<ref>[http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/07/halo-mortal-dictata-excerpt#more '''Tor''', ''Halo: Mortal Dictata Excerpt'']</ref><ref>[http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/01/halo-mortal-dictata-excerpt-karen-traviss '''Tor''', ''Halo: Mortal Dictata Excerpt - Chapter 2'']</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life===
Staffan was a factory worker<ref>'''[[Halo: Glasslands]]''', ''page 408''</ref> who lived in [[Alstad]] on the [[Outer Colonies|Outer Colony]] of [[Sansar]] with his wife [[Lena Sentzke|Lena]] and daughter [[Naomi-010|Naomi]]. He and his wife were proud of their brilliant daughter and hoped that a small colony world like Sansar would have enough to offer her when she grew up.<ref>'''[[Halo: Mortal Dictata]]''', ''page 20''</ref> On [[2517|September 10, 2517]], just five days from Naomi's birthday, she was abducted by [[ONI]] and replaced by a [[flash clone]]. Staffan and his wife became frantic when she did not arrive home after school. As councilman [[Jakob]] and the community searched throughout Alstad, Staffan headed to [[New Stockholm]] hoping to find her at the expensive [[toy]] store located there.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 25''</ref> Having no luck finding her, Staffan returned home. The following day, his wife received a call notifying her that Naomi had been found five kilometers from New Stockholm. 

Staffan was relieved to have Naomi back but quickly noticed her abnormal behavior.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 106''</ref> He gave Naomi [[Planetarium lamp|her birthday gift]] early and later planned to craft a doll house for her. As months passed, Staffan saw no improvement in Naomi's behavior and insisted that the clone was not his real daughter. Two years later, in March [[2519]], the flash clone died, and after being told their daughter had fallen victim to genetic disorders, Staffan's wife sterilized herself to avoid having any more children and ultimately committed suicide in September.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 108''</ref> After this, Staffan began insisting that his daughter's abduction was a government conspiracy.<ref>'''[[Halo: The Thursday War]]''', ''page 22''</ref>

===Criminal career=== 
Staffan later found other families who had lost children the same way.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 13''</ref> One parent named [[Andrew Remo]], a crime boss from [[Herschel]], befriended Sentzke and the two went on to become anti-UNSC colonial rebels.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 67''</ref> Staffan eventually left Sansar on a large mining [[freighter]] before it was glassed by the Covenant and went to Venezia, where he met a woman named [[Laura Sentzke|Laura]], married her and had a son, [[Edvin Sentzke|Edvin]], and a daughter, [[Hedda Sentzke|Hedda]].<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 112''</ref> They lived in the heterogeneous city of [[New Tyne]], a sanctuary for human and non-human dissenters and criminals.<ref>'''Halo: Glasslands''', ''page 440''</ref>

By [[2553]], he was still active in the Insurrectionist movement on Venezia. During [[Kilo-Five]]'s investigation of Insurrectionist activity on the planet, he was spotted in the company of a [[T'vaoan]] [[piracy|pirate]] named [[Sav Fel]].<ref>'''Halo: The Thursday War''', ''page 430''</ref> Sentzke later visited Fel at his home, located just five kilometers outside New Tyne. There they discussed the transaction of ''[[Pious Inquisitor]]''. As payment, Fel demanded particle beam rifles, [[dropship]]s, and [[Type-25 plasma pistol|plasma pistols]]. Sentzke stated that he would first need to see the ship and test its ventral beam. Fel told him the ship was in another system and that he planned to show him something extra when he saw the ship.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''pages 59-64''</ref> Sentzke then returned home to inform his son Edvin that Fel had indeed acquired a battlecruiser. Sentzke was determined to use the warship to attack Earth in order to finally learn the truth he so wanted to know.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 12''</ref>

Later, Staffan and Edvin met with Fel on [[Weymouth Island]]. Sav Fel transported them to his ship in a [[Kig-Yar shuttle|shuttle]] and then took his ship to where he had hidden ''Pious Inquisitor''.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 109''</ref> At Staffan's request, Fel agreed to demonstrate the battlecruiser's [[energy projector]] on a desolate world. When the ship arrived at its destination, [[Shaps III]], the vessel's eccentric Huragok caretaker, [[Sometimes Sinks]], told Sav Fel that he couldn't use the ship's [[energy projector]]s since there were [[Forerunner]] artifacts on the surface. Sav decided to put the Huragok in the brig while they tested the energy projectors, although he was worried that the Huragok might reconfigure the locks.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 127''</ref> Sav Fel then activated the ship's energy projector, at which point Sometimes Sinks accessed the ship's broadcast system and began wailing, upset that they were destroying the Forerunner artifacts on the planet. Sav Fel sent [[Dhak]] to go quiet the Huragok. After the firing was complete, Sinks drifted back unto the bridge distressed about them damaging the ruins. When Sentzke decided to test the beam himself, Sinks hovered at his side and began making pleading noises. Not wanting to upset the Huragok, Sentzke allowed Sinks to aim the beam elsewhere to avoid damaging any more ruins and then proceeded to glass a portion of the planet.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''pages 132 and 133''</ref> Satisfied with the ship, Sentzke completed the deal with Fel and kept Sinks as the ship's chief engineer. Grateful of Sentzke's consideration for Forerunner artifacts, Sinks deemed him as a true [[Reclaimer]].<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 392''</ref>

===''Pious Inquisitor''===
After [[Malcolm Geffen]] and [[Vasily Beloi]] of Kilo-Five infiltrated the [[Venezian militia]], Sentzke quickly learned that the two supposed UNSC deserters had experience with operating Covenant technology and took them to see ''Pious Inquisitor''. However, Sentzke and his son Edvin came to doubt the two Marines' cover story after an attempt by an unknown party to seize control of ''Pious Inquisitor'' using Venezia's [[Superluminal communications|FTL communications relay]], and Sav Fel's disappearance — although the latter was not the work of the ONI agents but the Kig-Yar [[Chol Von]] instead.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 237''</ref> Staffan had Mal and Vaz taken prisoner and attempted to force the truth out of them through torture. Vaz accidentally revealed that he had more information about Naomi than Sentzke had told him; he referred to the child's replacement as a clone, which Sentzke had never done. Craving to learn more about his daughter's fate, Sentzke moved Vaz to a different location and interrogated him personally.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 288''</ref>

During the conversation, it became clear that the Marine knew far more than Sentzke had even expected him to. However, they were interrupted by the arrival of Kilo-Five's rescue party; namely, [[Sergeant]] [[Lian Devereaux]] and her Pelican ''[[Tart-Cart]]''. At Vaz's insistence, they apprehended Staffan and took him aboard Kilo-Five's ship, {{UNSCShip|Port Stanley}}.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''pages 322-324''</ref> To his surprise, he was soon allowed to reunite with his daughter who now served with Kilo-Five. Although furious and disgusted at the UNSC's treatment of her, Sentzke concluded that he would be satisfied as long as Naomi was allowed to decide whether to remain in the UNSC or accept his offer to retire and join her family.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''pages 358-368''</ref> Due in part to her Spartan indoctrination and sense of duty, Naomi chose the former.

Shortly afterward, Kilo-Five were able to locate ''Pious Inquisitor'', which had already been boarded by Chol Von's Kig-Yar crew. However, Sometimes Sinks only followed Sentzke's orders and had placed the ship in lockdown, forcing Kilo-Five to take Staffan along as they entered the battlecruiser.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 397''</ref> Once aboard, Sentzke revealed that he intended to escape in order to avoid his otherwise likely fate of life imprisonment by ONI. He asked Vaz to take care of Naomi, and promised to end his campaigning against Earth in return.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 427''</ref> With the rest of Kilo-Five advancing toward the bridge, Chol Von set the ship to violently self-destruct. While Kilo-Five evacuated to their own dropships, Sentzke took a [[Dextro Xur-pattern Spirit|Spirit]] from the [[shuttle bay]], intending to use the Covenant dropship to escape.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 445''</ref>

However, Sentzke remained in close proximity of the battlecruiser until he knew for sure Naomi had escaped aboard one of the ONI dropships; unbeknown to Kilo-Five, the Spirit had been fitted with a [[slipspace drive]] by Sometimes Sinks, which would allow Sentzke to make it to a minimum safe distance even though the dropship's conventional engines could not.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 462''</ref> Assuming Sentzke had no chance of surviving the explosion, Vaz told the AI [[Black-Box]] to send the ONI file on Naomi's kidnapping to Sentzke in the hope that he would manage to relay it his family and prove his theories right. While sending the files, BB personally appeared in Sentzke's Spirit. Immediately noticing the slipspace drive and deducing Sentzke's true intentions, the AI indicated that ONI would never cease hunting Sentzke if they knew he had survived.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 452''</ref> However, out of both sympathy and trust that Sentzke would stay true to his word and leave Earth alone, BB wiped his memory of the incident immediately afterward; this left Kilo-Five and ONI to assume that Sentzke had been killed in the explosion.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 457''</ref>

Both Sentzke and Sinks survived and following the incident, he sent Vaz an anonymous package containing a [[planetarium lamp]] and a chair for a dolls' house, both of which he had planned to give Naomi for her sixth birthday decades earlier. Despite this implicit evidence that Sentzke was alive, Kilo-Five chose to honor their agreement and forgo informing the rest of ONI.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 485''</ref>

==Personality and traits==
Although regarded as a terrorist, Sentzke is a hard-working, loving, and caring family man. He enjoys spoiling his granddaughter [[Kerstin Sentzke|Kerstin]], building her a dollhouse in his workshop during his spare time; he had intended to give a dolls' house for Naomi decades earlier.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 11''</ref> Despite his new family, he was never able (or perhaps unwilling) to move on from Naomi's disappearance and was tormented by the matter for decades. His new family, even his son Edvin, never appeared to truly believe his theories, which further fed his frustration and even occasionally made him question his sanity.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 125''</ref>

Sentzke had an intense hatred of Terran authorities and the UNSC, and was willing to go to extreme lengths to force them to tell him the truth. In his own line of work as a rebel and arms dealer, Sentzke displayed a ruthless mentality which stood in stark contrast to his family life. He learned many of these qualities from his friend Andrew Remo, whose preexisting skill set and disregard for authority (byproducts of his criminal career) were an important contributor in transforming Sentzke from the ordinary citizen he used to be into a notorious insurgent.<ref>'''Halo: Mortal Dictata''', ''page 234-235''</ref>

==Trivia==
Staffan's reaction to encountering Naomi's flash clone is consistent with the symptoms of [[Wikipedia:Capgras delusion|Capgras delusion]].

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Glasslands]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Halo: The Thursday War]]''
*''[[Halo: Mortal Dictata]]''
*''[[Halo Mythos]]'' {{Mo}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/Sources|2}}

[[Category:Human characters|Sentzke, Staffan]]
[[Category:Venezian Militia members|Sentzke, Staffan]]