Martya was the second daughter of Clement Koudelka and Ludmilla Koudelka. She was tall and blonde, like her three sisters, and was practical and outgoing. When her sister, Kareen, was forbidden by their parents from attending to her job as Enrique Borgos' lab assitant, Martya assumed the position, accepting pay for her work in the form of shares in MPVK Enterprises. Rather surprisingly, she seems to have fallen for Enrique on their first meeting at Miles' disastrous dinner party, seeing him as a 'normal person' dropped into the chaos of Vorkosigan House. The two began a romantic attachment about the time of the end of A Civil Campaign.