"I just want to let you know, you two are like sons to me." - Mendosa
Mendosa (メンドーサ Mendōsa in Japanese) was the former Lord Admiral of the Valuan Armada seven years prior to the events of the storyline and captain of the Aquila. He is only present in flashbacks in Skies of Arcadia Legends.
History
When Ramirez suffers a crash near the region Mendosa's ship was patrolling, Mendosa has his soldiers retrieve Ramirez and treat his injuries. Ramirez's lack of knowledge of the world surprised both Mendosa and the ship's doctor, but his honesty made him an easy person to talk and get along with. Mendosa would train Ramirez to be an officer of the Valuan Armada and Ramirez gladly served under his mentor and alongside Doc.
However, this golden age was not meant to last. During Valua's occupation of Ixa'taka, a troubled Ramirez requested that Mendosa investigate allegations of slavery and otherwise harsh treatment of the Ixa'takans, something Mendosa promises to do. Ramirez later meets Galcian for the first time, the latter calling the former a fool for trusting Mendosa so easily, and explains his trademark philosophy that only power matters and people who depend on one another too much will eventually suffer betrayal. As Ramirez was much more impressionable than Fina ever was, he then initiates his own secret investigation on Mendosa, and finds that Mendosa was the one enslaving the Ixa'takans to work several additional hours in the moonstone mines for personal profit. Mendosa admits his deception and orders his soldiers to put Ramirez under arrest, but even the heartbroken Ramirez proves to be too powerful, easily killing both the soldiers and Mendosa himself and burning their ship.
Following the accident, Doc stumbles in upon Ramirez's murder. Ramirez tearfully confesses to Doc that he can no longer trust other people after this incident and disappears, presumably back to Valua. Doc rescues the nearby Maria and escapes on a lifeboat.
Legacy
Despite the comforts of his position as doctor to Lord Admiral, Doc would never return to Valua, and thus became a wandering doctor. His motivations of leaving Valua forever are never completely explained, though it is plausible that he wanted to remove Maria from the toxic societal values of Upper Valua, which are largely responsible for Mendosa's actions. Ramirez would return to Upper Valua, but became even more jaded from contact with the nobles and would seek Galcian as his permanent mentor; the incident of the Aquila was never officially attributed to him, implying that any investigation into the incident concluded with Air Pirates being responsible for Mendosa's death.
Both of Mendosa's daughters, Maria and Piastol, would be heavily affected by the tragedy that befell their father and became separated after the fire sunk the ship, each believing the other to be dead. Piastol left Valua to become the infamous Angel of Death who hunted all air pirates alike, believing the crew of the Albatross to be responsible for her father's death. Maria, though rescued by Doc, would be traumatized into silence, never speaking (or making any form of noise) for the next several years and only communicates with Doc by ringing a bell for necessities.
The involvement of Vyse and his crew would later mend the effects of those tragedies. Repeated battles with Piastol would force her to realize that she was mistaken about the events that lead to her father's death and would make efforts to try and reconcile with Maria. Maria slowly regains her ability to speak as her hamachou grew from the moonfish that Vyse fed it, and would make a complete turnaround once her hamachou flies away and Piastol arrives to meet her for the first time in years.