The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Nyla Tenelly

"If I was just Lieutenant Tenelly, I might carry out that order blindly, sir. But right now, I’m acting chief medical officer on this ship and that makes me Doctor Tenelly. And I have final say on how casualties are treated as per Yanibar Guard Fleet regulations."

- Nyla Tenelly

Nyla Tenelly was a female Duros born on Yanibar as the oldest of three children. Her parents were involved in the mining business, but young Nyla was more fascinated by a life of crime-solving as portrayed on the holodramas. She worked through school to pay for it, becoming a forensic technician by 2 ABY, where she served primarily as a coroner's assistant.

In 4 ABY, the Battle of Yanibar resulted in significant devastation, as well as increased stress at work. Her relative inexperience aggravated the man she worked under, a caustic, bitter man named Treyson. One day, in a fit of anger, he fired her. Tired of tolerating his endless verbal barrages, she walked away and never looked back. Taking a job at a tapcafe, she put herself through nursing school, but was saddled with large amounts of debt. To help ease that burden, she joined the Yanibar Guard.

In 9 ABY, she was posted to the Niman-class cruiser-carrier Aayla Secura, earning a promotion the following year to lieutenant and assistant medical officer. In 10 ABY, the ship was struck by the Cosnollian Comet upon reversion from hyperspace, severely damaging it and leading to her assuming the role of acting chief medical officer upon the death of Commander Bastana, her superior. The impact caused mass casualties, killing nearly a tenth of the crew on impact.

They were crippled and drifting, with no way of communicating and the hangar bay crushed. As such, Captain Zel resorted to drastic measures. He ordered Tenelly to prioritize treating engineers and technicians who might be able to save ship, over her objections at his disregarding of normal triage procedures. She reacted angrily and the two nearly came to blows.

Nevertheless, Zel won out, and the ship managed to struggle through the next two days, though still without main power. Captain Zel worked tirelessly to try and restore the ship's engines, but was unable to do so, working directly alongside Chief Engineer Evins. Again, his ruthlessly pragmatic methods earned him the ire of Doctor Tenelly, and he eventually realized that their measures were insufficient. He used their short-range transceiver to send an open distress signal, which was picked up by a smuggling ship belonging to the Talon Karrde organization. Zel negotiated for use of the ship's transceiver and their silence to contact a Yanibar Guard front organization. After doing so, he made a point to approach Tenelly and commend her for her dedication and integrity, as well as her willingness to stand up for her principles. He told her he had a high opinion of her as an officer and said that her arguments had been what swayed him to send the distress signal. Zel survived his court martial and Tenelly earned a new measure of respect for her captain. She argued on his behalf at his court martial, and agreed to remain on the Aayla Secura as the new chief medical officer after the fact.

She served on the Aayla Secura for the next twenty-five years, including at the Battle of Rishi during the Yuuzhan Vong War. In 35 ABY, the Aayla Secura was decommissioned. Just before the ship was formally withdrawn from service, Captain Zel walked its bridge one last time, joined by people who had served with him for years, including Chief Evins, Doctor Tenelly, Gunner Salyeh Gau, and Commander Darik. They walked around the ship, sharing stories. The five crewmembers gathered one last time in the memorial room of the Aayla Secura to share one last memory over a glass of wine of the same vintage as one used to dedicate the ship forty-one years earlier.

When the Aayla Secura was decommissioned, Commander Tenelly retired from the fleet to explore other interests and marry a Duros whom she had fallen in love with, a musician named Itimo. Settling down, she opened her own private practice. Three years later, she and Itimo was part of the departure of the Yanibar inhabitants to the distant world of Atlaradis.

Behind the scenes
Nyla Tenelly was created by Atarumaster88 for the short story The Final Voyage. Her episode was marked by greater tension between herself and the captain. Her character drew on influences from certain medical officers from the Star Trek universe, such as Leonard McCoy, The Doctor, and Beverly Crusher. However, when writing her backstory, Atarumaster88 instead based it off of a person who had already helped influence the character of Annita Daowot Knrr.

Appearances

 * The Final Voyage