The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Ashli Tar-sonis

Ashli Tar-sonis was a Human female and the daughter of two former Yanibar Guardsmen, Vree and Storia Tar-sonis. She was born in 5 ABY and raised on Yanibar. Her parents tended to isolate themselves from others, moving to the remote steppes north of Cadthak and making a living from ranching. Ashli grew up on their ranch, but longed for the excitement and social scene of a larger city, which led to her persuading her parents to let her attend secondary school in Union City.

In Union City, Ashli proved to be a good student at the school despite her rustic mannerisms. She studied management with a secondary emphasis on linguistics. After an intramural smashball game, she was approached by a Yanibar Guard recruiter, who tried to talk her into joining the service, pointing out that it was only a five year commitment and that she could get to go offworld while having her leadership skills refined and prepared for a successful care once out of the military. The recruiter also told her that her education would be paid for, relieving the financial burden on her parents. With no other postgraduate plans or commitments, Ashli agreed and joined the Yanibar Guard Army in 24 ABY. Her training and officer candidacy finished in 27 ABY and she was commissioned as a lieutenant and assigned to work as an intelligence analyst. Her personnel evaluations listed her as dutiful and quietly competent, but not outstanding.

Her parents were not pleased with her decision to join the YGA, due to their own history with the organization. When Ashli pressed them for further information, she was unable to find out from them, so she did her own research. Her findings revealed that they had been serving in an artillery company during the Battle of Yanibar, only to suffer anxiety attacks that rendered them completely unfit for duty, which had led to their discharge after the battle. Ashli was horrified and shocked, fearing that she might carry that same weakness. She strove to avoid making any decisions or placing herself in a position where others' lives would depend on her and especially field experience.

Her particular skill with analyzing cultures and other languages earned her some priority work on studying the Yuuzhan Vong species who were invading the galaxy and rampaging across hundreds of worlds. Tar-sonis quietly became one of Yanibar's leading experts on Yuuzhan Vong language and culture. Her briefing of her battalion's intelligence section impressed her direct superior in charge of intelligence for that battalion. He in turn told the support battalion commander, who mentioned it offhand at the gym to one of the commando chiefs, unbeknownst to Ashli.

It was quite a surprise to her when she was summoned to meet with a group of commandos in late 27 ABY, but she first thought it was just a briefing. She soon learned that was being loaned to the commandos to help with a high priority mission. Though at first Ashli thought she was just providing information, the commandos had a change of plans when they realized that they would need her expertise on the ground to avoid giving their position away via frequent longrange communication signals. To her horror, Ashli was assigned an infantryman's battlesuit and given several weeks training with the Cresh Squad commandos under Colonel Bryndar Knrr.

She was then assigned to fly with the rest of the commandos to Leritor to rescue a captured Force-using Elite Guardian. They landed on Leritor in captured and salvaged Yuuzhan Vong starfighters, known as coralskippers, and were confronted with Yuuzhan Vong warriors. The commandos blasted their way through the warriors towards the compound where the prisoner was being held. Ashli was anxious about seizing up in combat and her amateurish blunders at times hindered the highly trained commandos. While it was her first time in combat, the commandos were veterans and constantly trained for scenarios like this. Their brusque mannerisms and clear signs of disapproval at her mistake did little to bolster her confidence. Thanks to their improved shields, they managed to avoid serious injury, but were confronted with a far larger force at the compound where the prisoner was being held.

The number of Yuuzhan Vong threatened to force an abort of the mission, but Ashli came up with the idea of having Colonel Knrr challenge the Yuuzhan Vong leader to a duel for the life of the prisoner. Thanks to her translation and understanding of Yuuzhan Vong culture, the Yuuzhan Vong were convinced to bring out the prisoner, Master Daara Sherum, and their leader fought Colonel Knrr in hand to hand combat in an open clearing. Though the Yuuzhan Vong nearly defeated Colonel Knrr, the Cresh Squad sniper intervened and shot the warrior. A series of explosions and a quick volley of blasterfire cut down the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong, allowing Daara to escape with Cresh Squad.

The Guardsmen fled back to their rendezvous point with the Yuuzhan Vong in hot pursuit, but a group of Yanibar-aligned Jalsinnare mercenaries extracted them back to safety. Her success in the mission buoyed Ashli's confidence and she felt that she had overcome the specter of her parent's failure twenty years earlier. She continued to serve in the Yanibar Guard, earning a promotion to captain, and was deployed to Rishi in 28 ABY as part of the Yanibar Guard's intervention against the Yuuzhan Vong on that world.

On Rishi, Ashli was assigned to a refugee camp, helping handle the myriad concerns and needs of the Rishian and Chalactan refugees in the camp, as well as collect information from them about Yuuzhan Vong movements. However, a group of Yuuzhan Vong warriors tunneled into the camp and captured her and several other Yanibar Guardsmen. Though she was terrified at being held by the savage aliens, Ashli Tar-sonis kept her cool, identifying herself as the ranking officer out of the forty-seven Yanibar Guardsmen who had been captured. She and the others were conveyed up to the Yuuzhan Vong flagship in space for further interrogation.

As ranking officer, she was singled out to receive special attention by the Yuuzhan Vong commander Tsaruuk. She defiantly refused to divulge any vital information to him even under severe torture, including the loss of an eye. Eventually, she was freed by a rescue party of Ryion Kraen, Zeyn Kraen, and Kyle Katarn, who boarded the flagship. She and the surviving forty-two prisoners were evacuated by Zeyn and Kyle. Ultimately, Ryion was able to negotiate a mutual withdrawal with Tsaruuk and Ashli returned to Yanibar with the rest of the Yanibar Guard contingent.

Though she had no desire to draw attention to herself or her actions, news of her example and tenacity under duress reached Supreme Commander Selusda Kraen. He visited her in the medcenter where she was recovering from her wounds and presented her with a second Mark of Sacrifice, a second Mark of Valor, a Mark of Loyalty, and Yanibar's second-highest decoration, the Mark of Bravery. Her story later earned her a visit from a documentarian who came to visit and interview Yanibar Guardsmen about their experiences in the war.

Ashli Tar-sonis was dishonorably discharged from the military in 28 ABY and given a pension that covered any medical expenses resulting from wounds in the war and provided some income for her. She underwent therapy for post-traumatic stress and ended up settling down in Cadthak, living a quiet life as a fueling station owner she bought with her income from the military.

Military decorations

 * Mark of Bravery (28 ABY)
 * Mark of Loyalty (28 ABY)
 * Mark of Sacrifice (28 ABY)
 * Mark of Sacrifice (27 ABY)
 * Mark of Valor (28 ABY)
 * Mark of Valor (27 ABY)
 * Rishi Intervention Glyph (28 ABY)
 * Offworld Action Glyph (28 ABY)

Behind the scenes
Ashli Tar-sonis was created as a one-shot character to serve as the protagonist of Nine Riders. Her primary character attributes were her insecurity, inexperience, and anxiety, though she was able to overcome them through the course of the story. Her first name was drawn from the character Ashley Williams of the Mass Effect series, while her last name is a reference to the planet Tarsonis in the Starcraft universe. Her performance anxiety has similarities to issues suffered by the canonical character Kell Tainer in X-wing: Wraith Squadron. The character made a cameo appearance in Force Exile V and while the author considered her dying in the novel, ultimately wrote her survival into the novel.

Appearances

 * Nine Riders
 * Force Exile V: Warrior