The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Zid Harrinos

"Stick to the mission parameters. Our window of opportunity is running out—we’ll have a follow-up team check into it. For now, we did what we came to do."

- Zid Harrinos

Zid Harrinos was a Human male who was born and raised on Yanibar as one of the first generation of children born after the establishment of the Force exile refuge there. Growing up, he heard stories from one of his uncles, who had served in the Clone Wars in the Republic military, about the wars. Those tales influenced him to join the Yanibar Guard Army when he was old enough to make the decision. His parents, knowing the long and storied family history with the military and judicial services, were supportive.

He was recommended for officer candidacy and advanced quickly through the ranks, impressing his superiors with his efficacy and attention to detail. Harrinos also possessed what his evaluations described as a keen tactical mind and was mentored by some of Yanibar's finest generals, including the future head of YGA, General Rayven. Harrinos participated in the Saraswan campaign, leading a formation of Mauler tanks in battle. His tactics allowed his armored spearhead to shatter a defensive placement with minimal casualties. Harrinos' tactics were unusual in that he used the Maulers as the point of his spear with the lighter vehicles behind, rather than advancing them behind lighter units, which he instead flanked with. The sturdy Maulers handled the punishment better than expected, sweeping the field of the enemy with their railguns. For his service on Saraswan, he was decorated.

Harrinos was serving as a major in command of an armored company in 25 ABY when the Yuuzhan Vong invaded. He had been in command of the unit for three years when he was asked to consider commanding an experimental test group for a new battle walker being constructed for the Yanibar Guard Army. The Yuuzhan Vong species had invaded the galaxy, launching a devastating war, and the new walkers were part of Yanibar's increased defensive capabilities in case doing battle with them became necessary. The assignment came with a promotion and Harrinos accepted, becoming the command officer for over twenty officers training to pilot the new walkers.

The members of the unit new, dubbed the Pathfinders, met the project's lead, Sarth Kraen, who had masterminded the new walkers, dubbed Avatars, and underwent a grueling two year familiarization program that included simulators and numerous runs on the training grounds. Only twenty pilots were selected from the initial class, and only twelve made the cut. The first six months were spent just learning the technical capabilities and systems of their walkers&mdash;the next year was spent learning how to control them. Harrinos worked with all of his pilots to hone their skills on the machines as well as develop tactics to employ the Avatars. The pilots worked in teams of four and when the time came for the first combat mission, Harrinos selected the team of Captain Jon Rieves, Sneath Lapik, and Terneh Oegonar, and Akira Arkani as the pilots for the job.

Their first mission saw them headed to the conquered world of Falleen as Yanibar ramped up its covert strikes against the Yuuzhan Vong and their allies. By this time, Harrinos had earned the moniker "Eyes" from his pilots, due to his observational skills from his overwatch position. He trained his pilots hard for the mission, making sure they were physically and mentally prepared for what they would face.

The four Avatars dropped on Falleen. They were detected and attacked by a group of Yuuzhan Vong starfighters, but defeated them fairly easily. Advancing towards a ruined city, they encountered a large Yuuzhan Vogn warbeast. Rieves was used as bait by Harrinos after their weapons proved ineffective, luring the beast under a bridge, which the other three Avatars then collapsed on top of it. Moving forward, they encountered Yuuzhan Vong infantry, but were able to clear them with ease. They then detected a large Yuuzhan Vong encampment, and upon seeing the piles of sacrificial corpses, Akira was horrified and understood why the Yanibar Guard was fighting the Yuuzhan Vong, as she had initially been reluctant to become involved after also seeing combat on Saraswan.

An airstrike was called in to destroy the encampment, but one of the fighters that bombed it was shot down. The four Avatars were sent to destroy the wreckage. While doing so, the ground beneath their heavy walkers gave way, plunging them into a cavern infested with Yuuzhan Vong and cutting them off from Harrinos. The four Avatars were damaged and encountered three enemy warbeasts. After a grueling battle, they managed to defeat them thanks to Rieves' tactics, but both Terneh's and Akira's Avatars were heavily damaged. Exploring further, they found that the Yuuzhan Vong were growing yammosk war coordinators, telepathic creatures that coordinated the Yuuzhan Vong war effort. By that point, they were able to contact Harrinos, who advised them of the capabilities of the creatures. Since their enclosure was heavily fortified and the Avatars had depleted most of their ordnance, Akira suggested activating the self-destruct on the damaged two Avatars to destroy all the yammosks at once, preventing any telepathic retaliation. The two abandoned Avatars self-destructed behind them, collapsing the cavern, while the remaining two Avatars were extracted.

When the Yanibar Guard deployed to fight the Yuuzhan Vong on Rishi in 28 ABY, Harrinos was part of the group that went. He again commanded Avatars, using them to good effect in the skirmishes with the Yuuzhan Vong, but the constrained terrain and defensive nature of their battle did not lend itself to his aggressive maneuver tactics. His best action during the battle was during the evacuation of the town of Junro. Harrinos persuaded General Rayven to let him use the Avatars aggressively to sweep around and intercept enemy forces that threatened the evacuation, attacking them before they could directly interdict the transports. He received permission and commanded eight Avatars in a grueling march through the steamy valleys of Rishi that destroyed several hundred advancing Yuuzhan Vong warriors and drew off thousands more in pursuit. All the while, Harrinos coordinated artillery and airstrikes to whittle away at the enemy, buying time for the evacuation.

Shortly thereafter, Harrinos had ordered Rieves and his four Avatars outside the defensive perimeter of the Yanibar Guard field base to try and sweep up enemy light artillery units that had been harassing them. While they were on patrol, the Yuuzhan Vong launched a major attack on the base. The resulting bombardment cracked through the defensive shield temporarily, hitting just as Harrinos was trying to bring his Avatars back in from patrol. The secondary command bunker he was stationed at took a hit from a magma missile and its roof collapsed. When rescue parties arrived, it was too late for Harrinos. His pilots acquitted themselves well in the absence of another controller and he was quickly replaced to help guide them in the heat of battle. Only after the battle ended in a stalemate and both sides withdrew did his Avatar pilots learn of his death. His remains were taken back to Yanibar and given a military funeral&mdash;he was also memorialized in the Hall of Remembrance for his service. He was survived by his parents and three sisters; he had never married, saying that a time for that would come after YGA.

Behind the scenes
Zid Harrinos was created as one of commanding officer for the four main Avatar pilots for the novella Blaze of Glory. He was relatively undeveloped throughout the short story, serving primarily to relay orders and information to the pilots. His character and surname were heavily based off of Commander Harrison from MechCommander, a fitting tribute since the Avatars themselves were heavily inspired by the BattleTech franchise. His tactics in engaging the first rakamat also borrowed from a similar flanking movement used by Harrison. Unlike Harrison, who is Caucasian, Zid Harrinos is clearly described as black. Harrinos did not directly appear in Force Exile V: Warrior, but author Atarumaster88 opted to include his service and death on Rishi as part of his backstory.

Appearances

 * Blaze of Glory