The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Akira Arkani

{{Character infobox }} "You were pretty effective with that flamethrower and you did seem to want to go out in some kind of blaze of glory for just a second."
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 * name=Akira Arkani
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 * homeworld=*{{Sw|Serroco}}
 * {{Sw|Yanibar}}
 * birth={{Sw|2 ABY}}
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 * species={{Sw|Human}}
 * gender=Female
 * height=1.52 meters
 * hair=Black
 * eyes=Brown
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 * affiliation=Yanibar Guard Army
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- Jon Harrinos to Akira Arkani

Akira Arkani was a human female from Serroco. Her father was an engineer, while her mother was a nurse. When she was young, the ravages of the Galactic Civil War threatened their planet, and they fled the conflict. Their travels took them from world to world as refugees until they were finally approached by agents of the Yanibar refuge, inviting them to live in the remote sanctuary. They arrived when Akira was twelve and quickly settled in. Akira grew up there as the oldest of three children, the leader of her two brothers, and a definite tomboy. When she grew up, she wanted to repay the debt she felt her family owed Yanibar and joined its defense force, the Yanibar Guard.

She was not content to simply serve as a support officer in the Yanibar Guard Army and instead pursued a career in vehicle piloting. She started out in flight school flying Stiletto gunships, earning excellent marks in hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. She had been in the Yanibar Guard for five years when she was asked to consider joining 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. Akira was at first reluctant to abandon flying for a stomping, land-bound walker, but was eventually persuaded, as she had always wanted to be considered one of the elite members of the Yanibar Guard.

They 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, entering a top-secret unit dubbed the Pathfinders. 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. Akira was paired with three other pilots: Captain Jon Rieves, Sneath Lapik, and Terneh Oegonar, under the command of Colonel Zid Harrinos.

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, Akira had earned the callsign "Aleph," from her initials. She was hesitant about the need to attack the Yuuzhan Vong, pointing out that Yanibar had had minimal involvement in the war against the Empire. This opinion was not popular among her teammates, as they viewed the atrocities committed by the Yuuzhan Vong as casus belli. Nevertheless, their leader, Rieves, made sure they were prepared for battle.