Saki Vashtal

A member of the royal family and a commissioned officer Lt. Colonel in the Asranian air force he is distinguished by his black shades which in the manga was due to an eye injury and an Xshaped scar on his forehead. Saki is the son of Abdael the eldest son of the late former king of Asran. Asran was at the time the only middle eastern country not exporting its oil. Sakis grandfather did not wish to sell out to the West or to Communists and suspected that Abdael was having dealings with either. For this reason on his deathbed he declared his younger son Zak the next king. Humiliated Abdael along with his other son Rishaal became leader of an antigovernment rebel force backed by various communist countries. Saki remained loyal because of his late mothers love for Asran and is Area 88s commanding officer though it is clear that Saki feels shame for betraying his own father and perceives that his late mother would be saddened by his fathers actions. The scar on his forehead is self inflicted as a symbol of this shame. In the Eclipse English language comic Saki scarred himself early in the war when as a commander of Asrans regular Air Force he allowed himself to be tricked by his fatherallowing antigovernment forces to successfully attack Sakis base. Saki appears in all three versions. He is the cousin of Kitori Palvanaff. Though not incompetent Saki is not exactly considered an outstanding leader by the pilots but they follow his orders for the most part simply because its what they are paid to doand if they dont he will either dock their pay or shoot them. Although shown as a capable pilot in the manga and OAV efficiently flies the Kfir the TV series restricts Saki to the control tower. Source: Wikipedia