| abstract | - 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 was one of the pilots deployed to Saraswan during the Yanibar Guard's intervention there, seeing combat over that world. Akira acquitted herself well, helping to destroy a series of hostile vehicles and artillery emplacements that were threatening friendly partisans. When her gunship was damaged, she nursed the wounded craft home for a belly landing, and was decorated for her performance. 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—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. 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 their commanding officer 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. 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. 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. 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. Akira tried to make it from her cockpit to Rieves, but broken ribs sustained earlier in the battle complicated the matter, as did a group of Yuuzhan Vong infantry. Rieves caught her before she plunged to her death, hauling her inside his cockpit and escaping. The two abandoned Avatars self-destructed behind them, collapsing the cavern, while the remaining two Avatars were extracted. As they left, Rieves noted her performance and fiery temperament and coined a new callsign of her, "Blaze," which she approved of. He also flirted with her and she was receptive to his advances. When the Yanibar Guard deployed to fight the Yuuzhan Vong on Rishi in 28 ABY,Force Exile V: Warrior Akira was part of the group that went, piloting her Avatar to good effect, including rescuing a downed Yanibar Guard pilot and a group of commandos that were extracting her. After the battle was concluded, the Yanibar Guard withdrew from Rishi. When the Yuuzhan Vong War ended in 30 ABY, Akira and Jon Rieves got married. Akira left the service in 31 ABY to care for their son, Kiro, while Jon transferred to a teaching role, training the next generation of Avatar pilots. Yanibar was evacuated in 38 ABY due to environmental damage caused by a Yuuzhan Vong attack, and when its population departed for the distant world of Atlaradis, Jon, Akira, Kiro, and their daughter Naomi went with them.
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