The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Qad Skell

"I thirst for battle, as does any true Yuuzhan Vong warrior. But I do not seek to place my own goals before those of the gods, or of yours."

- Qad Skell to Tsavong Lah

Qad Skell was a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Raised among the stars as the Yuuzhan Vong wandered between galaxies, he was known for being a cunning and skilled fighter with some aberrant behavior. Most notably, he measured his aggression with caution and efficiency, unlike the bold but costly tactics favored by most of his peers. His odd choice of tactics earned him the scorn of many other warriors, and while Qad Skell had no problems accepting challenges, he did not always win either.

In many of his challenges, he would concede the field after having inflicted far greater losses on his opponent than he had taken. The opponent would be victorious, if battered. Many of the judges of these combats saw this as proof of victory for his foe, whereas Qad Skell heavily measured the cost of every action and sought to preserve his forces and only launch convincing assaults. His measured, unorthodox approach was disdained by the greater part of the warrior hierarchy, and soon Qad Skell was relegated to mere analysis, denied the opportunities to command. He earned the sobriquet "Tsaruuk," meaning "The Efficient One," which was intended as an insult and an implication of cowardice.

Yet his greatest victory came not in the proving arena, but in his personal life. His thoughtful approach to combat also carried over to his relationships with others, allowing him to see how to best relate and woo a beautiful and deadly Yuuzhan Vong warrior female named Yiu Shac. She chose him over dozens of other warriors, sparking enmity and confusion among them. Qad Skell was devoted to her, and she to him. He did his best to love her in the fashion of the Yuuzhan Vong, while she showed him the respect as a strategic thinker that his peers denied him.

When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, he served primarily as an analyst and an opposition force thinker. The Yuuzhan Vong learned that their New Republic foes were less willing to sacrifice their forces. As such, Qad Skell was a good choice when they needed to understand how their enemy thought&mdash;a difficult paradigm shift for most Yuuzhan Vong warriors. For his part, Qad Skell was content to serve, biding his time until his theories could be vindicated.

He was given a chance to command in 26 ABY during a strike on Saleucami, but his belief in a New Republic trap and subsequent withdrawal allowed a Jedi and several key planetary figures to escape, despite his successful avoiding of a trap that would have led his fleet into an explosive-rigged asteroid field and killed thousands. For his failure to fully complete his objectives, he was returned to the lowly post of analyst.

In 28 ABY, he received another chance from Warmaster Tsavong Lah, who gave him a command and told him to pursue a group of volunteers that had saved a large number of people from Yuuzhan Vong enslavement on Chalacta. Yiu Shac was supportive of her mate as he pursued them into Hutt Space, which took several weeks. En route, he found and crushed several Hutt convoys attempting to flee the Yuuzhan Vong. Yiu Shac later rejoined her mate, helping him in his search and learning that the bold rescuers were not regular military, but volunteers, as well as their strength. She advised him that their leader, Derek Klivian, was an experienced fighter and would not take the obvious routes. he gave her whatever resources she needed to help in their search, but cherished the fleeting moments they had to spend together during the war.

While on her hunt, she and a frigate of Yuuzhan Vong warriors found a refugee camp on Ord Pardron. She personally led the assault and attacked the largely defenseless refugee camp, which was run by an organization from Yanibar called Open Hands and led by a Force-user, Cassi Kraen. Though wounded, Cassi fought off Yiu Shac with the help of her droid, J7, but more warriors soon arrived. In the process, Yiu Shac was badly injured, her leg crushed against the wall by Cassi's telekinesis. Her warriors slew the refugees save for a few prisoners who were brought up for interrogation. She was irate at the temporary setback, having not anticipated the presence of Force-users at the camp.

The Yuuzhan Vong were searching for Cassi and her companions and interrogating the prisoners over Ord Pardron when the Yanibar Guard sent a task force to rescue them. They destroyed the frigate in orbit after rescuing the prisoners, stranding Yiu Shac. However, Qad Skell came to her rescue with a sizable fleet, retrieving her from the surface. While he took most of his forces to Rishi to hunt down the Chalactan refugees, who were soon defended by the Yanibar Guard, Yiu Shac had other ideas. First, her mangled leg was replaced with a living implant, with her mate there for her as the replacement was performed. Once she was recovered, she took a small scout ship to follow the trail of a small vessel that had taken a different course than the rest of the Yanibar Guard fleet.

Tsaruuk took his fleet to Rishi where his advance scouts had reported a Yanibar Guard force in orbit even as the Yuuzhan Vong began setting up an interdiction minefield around the planet. His forces smashed through the heavily outnumbered and outgunned force and Tsaruuk began directing troops to land on Rishi and seize their government while he personally accompanied a boarding action onto the Yanibar Guard carrier Vigilant Refuge. Leading from the front, he personally slew a Jedi and battled with Yanibar Guard commandos and droids. While his warriors were nearly able to seize the bridge, a larger Yanibar Guard fleet arrived and began assailing his fleet as well as his ground forces. Their commander, Jedi Master Selusda Kraen, personally led a force of armored Jalsinnare mercenaries to board the Vigilant Refuge. Realizing that he needed to be coordinating the battle, Tsaruuk and his warriors fell back. En route, he was confronted by a group of Jalsinnare, including their leader, Staroth. Tsaruuk anticipated their trap and ambushed the mercenaries, slaying Staroth. He escaped back to his flagship, the Bloodthirster, while the Yanibar Guard focused their fire on the Peace Brigade ships attached to his command.

Realizing that his own hunger for battle had led him off the bridge where he belonged, he recognized his own mistake when next he talked to Yiu Shac, who was still on her hunt. She commended him for recognizing his own mistakes, but warned him not to let his wounded pride affect his judgment. He appreciated her advise, feeling that her counsel helped his strategic thinking. Before they went back to their work, she told him that she desired a child with him, to which he assented, after they completed their respective missions. As for Yiu Shac's hunt, the trail eventually took them deep into the Unknown Regions.

His next move was to have his fleet draw off the Yanibar Guard while his ground forces advanced on a nearby city, threatening it. In response, the Yanibar Guard launched a massive evacuation effort in conjunction with local Rishian forces and New Republic volunteers. However, while Qad Skell contented himself with moderate damage to their ground forces, his real goal was to capture some of the defenders to obtain information about them and their fleet, as well as serve as leverage. The Yanibar Guard defended the convoy well, but were forced to reveal their arsenal of thermobaric vapor bombs, which were immensely destructive. Qad Skell realized their potential and deduced that he could not risk a mass attack for fear of being devastated by the weapons. Instead, he had the forty-seven Yanibar Guard prisoners brought to his flagship, where he personally conducted the interrogations, including the use of torture.

In response, two Force-using Elite Guardians, Ryion and Zeyn Kraen, took off in a captured Yuuzhan Vong ship, heading to the outskirts of the system. Their plan was to board the flagship, free the prisoners, and explode a seismic charge inside the warship, causing an explosion that would cripple the rest of the tightly-packed Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Meanwhile, the final battle for Rishi began. Tsaruuk only sent part of his fleet in response to a Yanibar Guard maneuver, suspecting a trap, while holding the remainder in reserve and keeping his flagship separated in case the Yanibar Guard attempted to recover their prisoners. Both his surmises were correct.

The two fleets clashed in space while the Yuuzhan Vong attacked on the ground. The Yanibar Guard split the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and defeated it, trapping the first force with Sarth's new weapon, the dark mass shadow mine. However, the Yuuzhan Vong overran a refugee camp and threatened to wipe out the Yanibar Guard Army and their allies on the ground. Ryion and Zeyn were able to reach the prisoners and fight their way through heavy resistance with the help of a Jedi Master named Kyle Katarn. Seeing his forces being overrun, Tsaruuk fell back to try and coordinate the battle, but Ryion pursued him. The two dueled, and though Ryion had the upper hand, both were interrupted by communiques telling them of the status of the battle.

Ryion confronted Qad Skell, and was able to negotiate a cease-fire and mutual withdrawal rather than annihilation, as the Yanibar Guard were losing badly on the ground and the Yuuzhan Vong forces in space were devastated. Rather than see all their gains thrown away, Qad Skell agreed that the best course of action was to accept the terms. However, he contented himself with the knowledge that both Yanibar and another world they had chosen as a safe haven had been found and attacked by the Yuuzhan Vong, which he revealed to Ryion. The attack on Yanibar had been enabled by the assistance of a group of Dark Jedi, who helped the Yuuzhan Vong plant a gravity-manipulating dovin basal on the planet, dragging its moon out of its orbit. The other attack had been orchestrated by Yiu Shac, who had followed the ship deep into the Unknown Regions. However, Ryion was able to contact his mother, who had been on that ship, and confirmed that Yiu Shac and all the warriors with her had fallen. Qad Skell was devastated&mdash;as a final concession, he insisted her remains be returned for proper burial, which the Yanibar Guard agreed to. Nevertheless, he lived up to his end of the bargain and withdrew his forces.

The action earned Qad Skell the ire of Tsavong Lah, who executed him dishonorably. Before he died, he pleaded for Yiu Shac to be buried with the full rites due a successful warrior. This last act was granted by Tsavong Lah, preventing the stain of his dishonor from contaminating Yiu Shac's memory. He died with her name on his lips.

Behind the scenes
The character of Qad "Tsaruuk" Skell was created for Force Exile V: Warrior by Atarumaster88. He wanted to show more developed and even sympathetic Yuuzhan Vong characters, and that included a portrayal of a married Yuuzhan Vong couple. Qad Skell's skillset and traits were designed to be similar to Selu's abilities and strengths, as Atarumaster88 wanted Qad Skell and Yiu Shac to be mirrors of Selu and Milya from a Yuuzhan Vong standpoint. When writing Qad Skell, Atarumaster88 sought to incorporate the strategic perspective of Imperial officers Thrawn and Pellaeon, making him less monotonic, unlike most canonical Yuuzhan Vong characters. As a more thoughtful warrior, Atarumaster88 was careful to emphasize his reasoned logic, with his weaknesses only apparent when he abandoned that reason. In early outlines of Warrior, Atarumaster88 planned to have Selu or Ryion and Qad Skell trapped on a derelict husk of his flagship for large portions of the novel, forced to help each other to survive after a series of intermittent skirmishes and mutual distrust. He abandoned that idea due to the pacing demands of the story and the difficulty with contriving the scenario.

Appearances

 * Force Exile V: Warrior