The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Danni Quee

Danni Quee was the first person in the New Republic to witness the terrifying invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong and that event impacted her life forever. She was a Commenorian scientist studying astrophysics at a young age until war broke out. Danni knew firsthand what the alien invaders were capable of and devoted the next five years of her life to stopping them, serving as the foremost expert on Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology and inventing many of the countermeasures used to eventually slow their advance.

She also learned she was Force-sensitive and developed her nascent talents partially, though she never advanced to the rank of Jedi Knight. Danni's life was forever altered by the war, as she spent its years running from world to world, battling the invaders and researching new technologies to stop them. After the fall of Coruscant, she was on Borleias, helping Wedge Antilles until the New Republic could regroup. Her information was shared with the Force exiles of the Yanibar Guard to aid in stopping a Yuuzhan Vong force over Rishi.

Her personal life was neglected, and a potential romance with Jedi Knight Jacen Solo never took off. Her final mission of the war took her and several other Jedi to Zonama Sekot, a living world which returned and compelled the Yuuzhan Vong to stop fighting after the Jedi slew their leadership.

After the war, when the Yuuzhan Vong surrendered and were resettled on Zonama Sekot, Danni Quee remained on Zonama Sekot as it returned to the Unknown Regions. She gave up her status as a Jedi to remain on Sekot, feeling it was where she belonged.

She spent much of her time researching the numerous plants and animals native to Sekot, befriending a Ferroan woman named Renshi who was also interested in learning more about Sekot. Danni spent eight years on Sekot studying the fascinating world, content and unhindered by the Yuuzhan Vong, who having given up their warlike ways, no longer posed a threat to her.

However, her placid existence was not to last forever. Zonama Sekot and in particular Danni were targeted by Ariada Cerulaen, a Force-using Elite Guardian formerly of the Yanibar Guard who had fallen to the dark side during the Yuuzhan Vong War Ariada hated the Yuuzhan Vong and also blamed the Jedi Order for allowing the alien invaders to survive despite the atrocities they had inflicted. Her plan to manipulate the public into condemning and ostracizing the Jedi Order involved biological weapons, and so Danni became a target due to her expertise in the field&mdash;Ariada did not want to risk anyone stopping her plan. She sent one of her specially-trained assassins after Sekot&mdash;the assassin's mission was to kill Danni and poison Zonama Sekot and its Yuuzhan Vong inhabitants with the technobeast virus.

Thankfully for Danni, the Yanibar Guard anticipated that Ariada might strike at Sekot and sent one of their own Elite Guardians, Zeyn Kraen, as an emissary to the world to stop any attack Ariada launched. Zeyn and the assassin arrived at approximately the same time while Danni and her friend Renshi were in the forests of Zonama Sekot. The assassin struck first, slaying Renshi, but Zeyn drove her off before she could kill Danni.

Danni was horrified, as she had hoped to put all such violence behind her at the conclusion of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Instead, Zeyn led her to safety through the forests, hiding her from the assassin with the Force and consoling her over the loss of her friend. She asked him about his home, and he was reticent, although did admit that he and his mother were estranged. Having lost her family in the Yuuzhan Vong War, Danni urged him to reconcile with her, though he was reluctant to do so.

Zeyn led her back to the Yuuzhan Vong settlement near where his ship was lande, only to find that it had been ravaged by the technobeast virus. Telling Danni to stay back, he fended off two technobeasts, but was attacked by a fearsome combat droid that the assassin had brought. Zeyn defeated it, but was injured and infected with the virus. Danni reached him and instinctively used the Force to purge the virus from his body. They then fell back to a cave to hide for the rest of the night. However, the assassin followed them and attacked once more. Though Zeyn destroyed the combat droid that was sent in first, the assassin attacked through the ceiling of the cave and crippled him. She was about to finish him when Zeyn slid his lightsaber over to Danni, who impaled the assassin upon the blade. However, the cave entrance had been collapsed and Zeyn was near death. Only the arrival of a group of Yuuzhan Vong saved them.

The Yuuzhan Vong treated Zeyn's wounds, and Danni revealed what Zeyn had told her about his homeworld, about how Yanibar had been doomed to a slow death during the Yuuzhan Vong War by the alteration of one of its moon's orbits by the Yuuzhan Vong. Zeyn had also told her that their planned evacuation had been encountering difficulties. Danni mentioned this to the Yuuzhan Vong leader, Niull Shac, who, in a gesture of goodwill and peacemaking between their peoples, offered to help Zeyn's people when Zeyn awoke. Zeyn was highly distrustful of the Yuuzhan Vong, having fought against them in the war, and was furious with Danni for having told the Yuuzhan Vong what he had shared with her.

Nevertheless, with the assassin dead, Zeyn figured his mission on Zonama Sekot was over&mdash;he just needed to find a way off the planet as his ship was in the quarantine zone. Niull Shac told him that the Yuuzhan Vong had found the assassin's ship, so Zeyn, Niull Shac, and Danni went to investigate it. Zeyn was able to defeat one more combat droid with Niull Shac's help, granting him greater appreciation for the Yuuzhan Vong. The ship was rigged to transmit information about its hyperspace jumps and transmissions to Ariada, so Zeyn realized he would have to trust the Yuuzhan Vong both to leave Sekot as well as to help his people. After considerable deliberation, he accepted Niull Shac's offer of aid. Before leaving, he approached Danni to apologize for his angry reaction and to thank her for her help. Unwilling just to let him go, she asked him if he wanted her with him. After some hesitation, they admitted their mutual attraction and left Zonama Sekot together, as Danni was ready to leave that world behind following the death of Renshi.

They left the world, towed in the assassin's ship by a Yuuzhan Vong vessel, until Zeyn was able to trade the ship in for something else to return to Yanibar. They arrived safely and Zeyn and Danni were able to convince the Ruling Council to accept the Yuuzhan Vong's offer. As Danni was the only one trusted enough by both sides and with sufficient expertise, she was asked to verify that their efforts were done in good faith, which she accepted. During the development phase, Danni learned that one of the younger warriors was attempting to incite sabotage efforts to punish the Yanibar refuge for casualties they had inflicted on the Yuuzhan Vong during the war. She confronted Niull Shac about this privately, placing her life in danger. However, Niull Shac was committed to the idea of peace and personally slew the agitator. The Yanibar refuge's evacuation ships were able to lift off thanks to the covert aid of the Yuuzhan Vong. Furthermore, as he had promised her on Zonama Sekot, Zeyn reconciled with her mother, bringing Danni along to meet her.

When the evacuation efforts were ready, the Yuuzhan Vong departed in peace. Danni attended a funeral for two prominent Elite Guardians who had fallen stopping Ariada, which was also attended by many prominent Jedi and other figures she had known from the war. They were surprised to see her there, and even more surprised when she revealed that she was going with the Force exiles to the legendary planet of Atlaradis. However, her mind was made up. After the ceremony, she departed with the rest of the Yanibar refuge for Atlaradis to begin a new life there with Zeyn.

Behind the scenes
The character of Danni Quee had long intrigued author Atarumaster88 as one of the greater cliffhangers of the New Jedi Order series. He decided to bring her into the Force Exile Series and felt that tying her into Prodigal made sense, both to give the character closure as well as introduce an element of dramatic tension due to Ariada targeting her. Her skillset and residence made her a natural target for Ariada.

The decision to pair Danni with Zeyn was made fairly late in the writing process, and Atarumaster88 sought to develop their relationship slower rather than having them immediately fall in love. Danni's past failed romance with Jacen as well as her sidelining of her personal life left her reluctant to so easily surrender to emotions, while Zeyn had emotional baggage of his own, including his anger towards the Yuuzhan Vong and rift between him and his mother. Both parties had to overcome that before they could move forward. By the end of the novel, Danni and Zeyn are said to be engaged, but in-universe, the authors of The Essential Guide would not be aware of that.

The decision to have Danni trust Niull Shac enough to confront him personally and risk her life was based off what Atarumaster88 felt was a needed evolution from her wartime attitude toward the Yuuzhan Vong. Her boldness and decision to approach him despite risking her life was distantly drawn from the biblical account of Esther. Her suggestion of methods by which she could be killed to evoke guilt in Niull Shac was unintentionally similar to dialogue spoken by Shara Berecca to Ryion Kraen in Force Exile V: Warrior.

Appearances

 * Force Exile V: Warrior
 * Force Exile VI: Prodigal