Tyria Sarkin Tainer

"Don't ever marry a mechanic. Over the years, you pick up a lot of training, whether you want to or not, and then you're stuck on motor-pool duty whenever you can't avoid it."

- Tyria Sarkin Tainer

Tyria Sarkin Tainer was a female Human from Toprawa and an Antarian Ranger. She was also somewhat Force-sensitive, a fact which helped her gain entrance to the New Republic Starfighter Command, but she initially showed little aptitude for either Jedi or pilot training. Her start in Starfighter Command was discolored by a corrupt training instructor, Atton Repness, who tarnished her record after she threatened to expose his fraudulent activities. After graduating at the bottom of her class, she became one of the founding members of Gray Squadron under Commander Wedge Antilles, and supplied the unit's permanent name: Wraith Squadron. The unit was quickly activated after the Battle of Folor and participated in the campaign against Warlord Zsinj and his subordinate Apwar Trigit.

Despite not being one of the more skilled pilots in the squadron, she participated in a number of missions and distinguished herself with her abilities as an infiltrator. Sarkin eventually told her new friends in the squadron about what Repness had done to her and squadmates Garik Loran and Ton Phanan were able to find a way to expose Repness. They also helped her after she was forced to kill a brainwashed New Republic pilot trying to assassinate Han Solo. During her time in the Wraiths, Sarkin also developed an attraction for fellow Wraith Kell Tainer, whom she would later marry.

Although Jedi Master Luke Skywalker had told her that she was not a likely candidate for Jedi Knighthood, she left the military some time after Zsinj's death to learn the ways of the Jedi Order on her own, and eventually she was confirmed as a Jedi Knight by Skywalker in her own right. She and Tainer had two children, a daughter, Jesmin, who later joined the squadron of her father and a son named Doran, who also inherited Sarkin's Force sensitivity and became her apprentice. They traveled to distant parts of the galaxy, with Sarkin Tainer teaching Doran, even as the Yuuzhan Vong War raged.

Early life
"The Force is weak in this one."

- Tyria Sarkin

A native of Toprawa, Sarkin was trained in her youth as an Antarian Ranger, a centuries-old militia that assisted the Jedi on especially perilous missions. Sarkin believed that it was likely the intermarriage of Jedi and Antarian rangers that had given her Force sensitivity. Sarkin's family was one of the Ranger clans that survived both the Clone Wars and the Jedi purge by going underground for decades. They survived until the bombardment of Toprawa, an event that left Tyria Sarkin the last of the Antarian Rangers.

Sarkin dreamed of training to use her Force powers, and at some point she met the Jedi Luke Skywalker. The Jedi Master put her through several Force training exercises, but did not believe that the young Antarian Ranger would progress very far in her control of the Force. Instead, he gently suggested as much to her, and Sarkin moved on to focus on other things.

Pilot training
"They were hoping you'd train up to be a new Luke Skywalker.''" "''That's right. But in my early simulator work I flew more like a drunken dinko."

- Kell Tainer and Tyria Sarkin

Sarkin joined the New Republic to become a starfighter pilot. She knew that it was her Force potential, and certainly not her piloting aptitude that got her into the Academy. Her skills were considered insufficient in the cockpit and she was placed in remedial pilot training under then-Major Atton Repness. In the training squadron, her scores began to rise and Sarkin believed that she was improving as a pilot.

After a short time, Repness approached her with an offer: he wanted her to help him steal an X-wing starfighter by reporting equipment failure, ejecting over the ocean, and reporting the starfighter to have sunk thousands of meters below and to be unrecoverable. Repness, however, planned to meet the young pilot trainee at the ditch site and make off with the fighter to sell it on the black market. Sarkin refused, saying that she was going to turn in her crooked commanding officer to the authorities. When the seemingly-shocked Repness begged for time to set his affairs in order, Sarkin naively acquiesced and unwittingly gave the major time to cover his tracks and put her up on charges of gross insubordination. Challenging the corrupt officer again, Sarkin was confronted with the truth of her piloting scores: Repness had been recording them inaccurately high. Sarkin would have washed out of even the remedial program weeks before if her true scores had been reported. In exchange for a chance to graduate at the bottom of her class with her falsely-recorded passing marks, the young woman kept silent about Repness's crooked side business. However, her coerced behavior left her angry and bitter over what she'd been forced to do.

Training begins
"&hellip;you ten were good enough and the other thirty-three weren't."

- Wedge Antilles discusses the formation of Gray Squadron

Not having much chance in Starfighter Command with her low scores and even lower real abilities in the cockpit, Sarkin jumped at the chance to join a new squadron formed by Rogue Leader Wedge Antilles. For the new unit, Antilles had specifically requested both pilots with commando skills, but also wash-outs and pilots with disciplinary issues&mdash;categories into which Sarkin fell. She joined the unit but was disappointed to learn that it was her Antarian Ranger skills that had caught the veteran pilot's attention. She transferred to Folor Base as one of the candidates anyway, and passed through Antilles' and Wes Janson's&mdash;the executive officer for the new unit&mdash;screening interviews.

Sarkin flew her first training exercise as a squadron candidate as Gold Four in a simulated ambush of the base. She came out of the exercise with two kills and a score of thirteen hundred fifty out of two thousand. After the simulation was over, she was introduced to her partners in the exercise, Kell Tainer, Hohass "Runt" Ekwesh, and Voort "Piggy" saBinring. As they discussed the mission at a tapcafe on Folor Base, DownTime, Sarkin was the first to recognize Ekwesh's possession of multiple minds, and passed on the story of the droid waiter Squeaky and the Runaway Droid Ride to her future squadmates. She also soon met future Wraiths Garik "the Face" Loran and Ton Phanan, the latter of whom revealed Sarkin's Force-sensitivity to the other pilots. As the fellow candidates learned more about each other, they began to realize that almost all of them were very close to washing out of Starfighter Command for one reason or another. Sarkin did not initially reveal her own story, but acknowledged to Loran, Phanan, Tainer and Ekwesh that she fit the mold of a pilot on the edge of being removed.

Gray Squadron
Shortly thereafter, Sarkin, along with nine other candidates, was informed that she'd been selected as one of the members of the new squadron. When the remaining candidates were notified that they had been accepted into the squadron, Sarkin became Gray Ten, wingman for Lieutenant Myn Donos in Three Flight. Though she had made it into the squadron, she was the last pilot named at their introductory briefing, indicating that she had the lowest training scores of the surviving pilots. Though Kell Tainer, who had quickly become smitten with her, tried to comfort her, she still felt like she was the worst.

After a training mission involving proton torpedo practice was deliberately set up to force the pilots to adapt to a lack of targeting systems, Sarkin was in DownTime, sharing experiences and amusing stories with some of the other pilots. She noted that the taciturn Corellian Myn Donos opened up in the presence of another pilot, Falynn Sandskimmer, but also did not spend much time in the tapcafe, knowing that she had hyperspace navigation to study for an upcoming mission.

Tainer continued to try to attract Sarkin's attention throughout the training, eventually professing his love to her over breakfast one morning. Though she reciprocated his feelings, Sarkin believed that Tainer did not truly know her and was instead in love with a "fantasy Tyria." She told him as much, but did not reveal her own feelings. She left him at the table to contemplate her rejection, but it was not the only memorable event of the day. At their mission briefing that afternoon, the group was informed that Sarkin's suggestion for a name had been chosen as the official one for the unit: Wraith Squadron.

Later that day, the Wraiths launched in preparation for their hyperspace practice mission. En route, the squadron's communications expert, Jesmin Ackbar, detected Imperial transmissions. It was not long before they realized that an Imperial Star Destroyer, Implacable, was approaching Folor. Immediately, Antilles ordered a return to Folor to prepare a hasty defense while the base was evacuated. The Wraiths then participated in the Battle of Folor, where Sarkin earned a combat kill against an Imperial starfighter. After all the transports jumped to hyperspace, the squadron escaped the system on a heading for Doldrums.

Unfortunately for the Wraiths, they were pulled out of hyperspace early in the Xobome system and left stranded with their ships' and astromechs' memories wiped due to an automated attack by Warlord Zsinj's Empion mines. Sarkin was one of the Wraiths who landed in the frigid winds of Xobome 6 to effect repairs while Kell Tainer, Piggy saBinring, Eurrsk "Grinder" Thri'ag and Cubber Daine constructed the Lunatic, a makeshift boarding vehicle. When one of Zsinj's support vessels, Night Caller, arrived to investigate the scene, saBinring, in the Lunatic, boarded and single-handedly captured Night Caller while Sarkin and the other Wraiths quickly powered up and defeated the two TIE fighters launched by Night Caller.

The truth revealed
The Wraiths continued their own operations by posing as the captain and crew of the Night Caller, as their swift seizure of the ship had allowed them access to all its facilities and computer systems. After successfully conducting operations as part of this charade at Viamarr 4 and following a resupply stop at Doldrums, the Wraiths were declared an active unit, no longer a training squadron. But even with the squadron's successes, Sarkin's self-pity had become enough of a concern to her squadmates that they approached her in the mess hall, as she was spending as much of her free time as possible in the X-wing simulator. During the conversation, in which Kell Tainer, Ton Phanan and Grinder Thri'ag attempted to convince her to relax, Thri'ag suggested a way to increase her performance as a pilot. The Bothan offered to slice into her records and improve her scores. Sarkin, thinking only of her history with Atton Repness and not realizing that Thri'ag's offer was made in jest, attacked the other pilot. Phanan and Tainer managed to pull her away from the bloodied Bothan just before Commander Wedge Antilles with Lieutenant Wes Janson arrived and called the entire mess to attention, before taking Sarkin and Thri'ag to Wedge's office.

When asked by Antilles why she reacted in such a manner, Sarkin simply said she had no excuse, refusing to divulge her sordid story. As a result of Sarkin's inability to explain her loss of control to her commander, she was put on report, her X-wing and astromech temporarily reassigned to Ton Phanan. But her relentless squadmates would not drop the matter as easily as Antilles and Janson, and Tainer and Phanan approached Sarkin one last time, this time in the privacy of her quarters on the Night Caller.

Sarkin came clean about her history to them, explaining to the pilots why she was so filled with self-pity in contrasting her piloting abilities to the other Wraiths, and also why her anger had so consumed her after Thri'ag's comments, so reminiscent of what Atton Repness had done. The conversation did her good, helping calm her down and allowing the other pilots to suggest ways for her to improve her performance in the squadron, both as a pilot and using skills learned as an Antarian Ranger. Though she did not know it, it would be this discourse that ultimately led Ton Phanan and Garik Loran to conspire to bring down Atton Repness and his entire black market operation with the help of Lara Notsil.

Crewing the Night Caller
The next mission following the Night Caller schedule took them to Xartun to for reconnaissance. Sarkin was able to finally show her squadmates the set of skills that set her apart from the other pilots. Moving silently and using the noise of the wind to cover her movements for added stealth, she led an impressed Wedge Antilles to the bunker to cover the approach of the other Wraiths. Once they had successfully infiltrated the bunker, however, Sarkin, Ekwesh, and Phanan were attacked by Imperial Probe Droid A2. Sarkin's tactics of taking cover behind a phototropically shielded TIE fighter viewport and then pinning the droid with a repulsorlift cart allowed Tainer to destroy the enemy probot with his demolitions equipment. Given the Omega Signal, a cue to terminate the mission, she and Ekwesh also used their blasters to cover the squadron's exit as the other Wraiths piled into a cargo skiff to escape. Then Sarkin and Ekwesh scrambled aboard as the skiff shot past the remaining guards into the night, shortly before explosives left behind by Tainer destroyed the complex. Furthermore, the Wraiths had been able to extract large amounts of data from the facility before destroying it&mdash;their mission was a success.

Determined to continue proving herself over the next few missions conducted by the Wraiths, especially as she was still on report, Sarkin spent every chance she could in the simulators aboard the Night Caller, particularly trying to improve in the X-wing simulator with Chunky. This seemed to pay off for the young woman when Wedge temporarily restored her to her snubfighter and regular duty for a mission to M2398. Much more emboldened than she had been in her previous engagements, Sarkin even led most of the squadron in a challenging launch from the bow hold of the Night Caller even as the corvette maneuvered away from incoming pirate snubfighters that ambushed them suddenly.

In the ensuing battle, Sarkin became Kell Tainer's temporary wingman. As she and Tainer chased down a pair of Uglies, Sarkin recognized that they were being led into an ambush. She could not identify how she knew, but Tainer trusted the Force-sensitive woman enough to realize himself that the pirates were trying to use a tactic of leading them to three treaded ground vehicles hidden in a crater on the moon's surface. Sarkin managed to hit one of the vehicles with a proton torpedo. The resulting explosion, combined with that of Tainer's weapon, destroyed the ground vehicles just after they launched their own missiles and lasers, which struck the fighters of temporary wingmen Jesmin Ackbar and Myn Donos.

Sarkin broke off from Tainer as he attempted to rescue Ackbar after the other pilot's craft was hit, and took her own fighter into position behind Donos, who had suddenly gone catatonic over the loss of his astromech droid. Although the lieutenant would barely answer her communications, she knew how to make Donos responsive. She recognized the similarity of the mission to the one that ended in Talon Squadron's destruction, and knew that Donos was distraught over the destruction of his droid, whom he viewed as the last member of his old unit, Talon Squadron. She used Talon Squadron callsigns to get his attention, and led him safely back to the Night Caller.

In the aftermath of the mission, Sarkin was able to help some of her squadmates deal with the repercussions. She helped Tainer and Phanan cover for Donos's continuing mental breakdown, and comforted Tainer in what he saw as his own personal failure to save Jesmin. She also showed the first signs of her hidden affection for the pilot from Sluis Van, giving him a kiss on the cheek after a conversation with him about the Force and how she'd used it in the battle.

Soon after their departure from M2398, Sarkin played an integral part in the simulation that finally convinced Donos that he needed to live. In this act, several pilots placed Donos in a simulator and re-enacted the final battle of Talon Squadron, using their voices to tell him that his catatonia indicated he wasn't being faithful to their memories, that his refusal to live was spitting on their graves. After a seething Donos emerged, Sarkin intuitively recognized that what set off Donos was the loss of his droid, who he considered to be the last Talon. Telling him that the Wraiths were his friends and needed him, Sarkin got Donos to open up about his feelings and his condition so that Tainer and Sandskimmer could join the conversation and help him begin to recover.

Once Donos, Sandskimmer, and Loran had left her alone with Tainer, the other pilot stated his theory that Sarkin had been nudged along by the Force the entire time, but only when she wasn't trying so desperately to use it. He also confessed his love for her a second time. While Sarkin was initially skeptical, she realized how much he had changed since his first attempt to win her heart, and kissed him passionately, acknowledging her own feelings for him now that he was no longer in love with a "fantasy Tyria."

Closing on Trigit
"Wraiths, this is Leader. Wishing you good luck. Be strong in the Force. Even you, Wraith Ten. Thirty seconds to Loran Spitball&hellip;"

- Garik Loran to the Wraiths before the Battle of Ession

When Zsinj ordered "Captain Darillian" and his crew to meet up with the supply ship Hawkbat, the Wraiths had to find a way to protect their identities. To this end, they were forced to come up with a way to obtain at least two TIE Fighters, as well as keeping the Hawkbat Captain Bock Nabyl from coming aboard to meet Darillian, prompting a mission to Storinal. Sarkin participated in the mission by posing as the wife of an out-of-luck test pilot, played by Ton Phanan. Once they had been admitted to Storinal under these disguises, they joined Kell Tainer, and later slicer Eurrsk Thri'ag, to form Plague Group. The foursome was tasked with stealing a disease from the Scohar Xenohealth Institute that would later be unleashed on the crew of the Hawkbat.

Once they had decided to obtain a sample of Bunkurd Sewer Disorder, Sarkin was assigned to do the initial scouting, walking around the Scohar Xenohealth Institute with a camera in her cap and which was monitored remotely by Thri'ag. Her efforts allowed the slicer to pinpoint the only entrance without a viewer or a lock permitting exterior entry: the waste vent. The group used this vent to gained entrance to the Institute, with Sarkin thinking ahead to spatter perfume on the inside of the group's breath masks during their preparations for the unpleasant-smelling trip up the waste flue. The former Antarian Ranger took point in their exploration of the building, putting her intrusion skills to use once more. She stopped only when she reached a change in flooring or a portal, and only to let Thri'ag check for sensors, and the group returned successfully from the Xenohealth Institute with a sample of BSD.

In the second half of Plague Group's assignment, Sarkin participated in helping to deliver the BSD into the air intake scoop of the Hawkbat's Perch. This time, she posed as part of a work crew for the shuttle, and actually had to help Tainer service it and the Hawkbat's Vigil as part of their cover. The other part of their pretense at being at the shuttle was stealing containers of recreational holos, which Sarkin arranged in order to make them look like black marketeers. Though their work crew cover was almost blown by the arrival of the real shuttle work crew, Sarkin helped Tainer bluff and fight his way past them, and then covered Donos's arrival as he joined Plague Group for their departure in the Wraiths' shuttle, Narra. Just before they left, Ekwesh made a surprise assault on the spaceport in order to distract security so several other members of Wraith Squadron could steal four TIE fighters for the rendezvous with Trigit. As he flew over, a laser cannon emplacement tracked him, but the Wraiths' sniper, Donos, took it down with a laser rifle. Sarkin then ventured out to cover his exfiltration back to Narra. Once the Wraiths who hadn't stolen fighters were aboard, they departed and returned to Night Caller.

With every X-wing cockpit filled, Sarkin was unable to participate in the Wraiths' raid on Todirium. She was still on report, with her X-wing assigned to Phanan. But later, with Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson and Falynn Sandskimmer in TIE fighters along with Atril Tabanne, enough snubfighters were freed up for Sarkin to participate as an X-wing pilot in the Battle of Talasea, which had been planned as a trap for Trigit. Though the Imperial refused to bring his personal Star Destroyer, Implacable, into the system, the Wraiths were able to engage two other ships of Trigit's. In the battle, Sarkin helped take down the shields of the Nebulon-B frigate Provocateur with her set of proton torpedoes. Added to those of four other Wraiths, the torpedoes were enough to allow fire from Donos and Phanan to destroy the enemy frigate.

After the battle, two new X-wing fighters were delivered to Wraith Squadron. Because of Sarkin's behavior, described by Wedge Antilles as having been "exemplary," Sarkin was restored to full operational status and her own snubfighter and astromech. At the same small ceremony, Kell Tainer was awarded the Kalidor Crescent and promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Sarkin, like the rest of their squadmates, could see that Tainer was not as pleased by this turn of events as he should have been. She followed him back to his room and opened the locked door with a code she obtained from Thri'ag, confronting the morose Tainer about his behavior and his fears about being his father's son&mdash;Tainer's father had been slain for cowardice. Although she could not seem to truly change his mind at the time, she talked him out of resigning his commission.

Back in her cockpit for the Wraiths' final engagement with Admiral Trigit and the Implacable, Sarkin took part in another Loran Spitball, the name given to a sudden torpedo barrage from the Wraiths launching out of Night Caller. She followed with a pass on the Implacable bridge and dogfighting with enemy TIEs, all alongside her wingman Myn Donos. Though she did not know it at the time, and did not communicate with him during his private mental crisis, it would be the thought of Sarkin which would also bring Kell Tainer back into the skirmish to help the other Wraiths after a brief panic attack. Both of them survived the engagement and celebrated with their squadmates on a beach on Borleias on its successful conclusion and the destruction of Implacable.

The Hawk-bats
Back on Coruscant, Sarkin was present for the bar brawl that effectively cancelled the Wraiths' leave. She joined Tainer and Shalla Nelprin as part of Ekwesh's team to try to determine Zsinj's plans and strategies. On their first mission to begin acting on their conclusions, Sarkin helped infiltrate the Imperial base on Halmad by posing as a stormtrooper. She and Donos vandalized the inside of a hangar to make their operation look more like the work of pirates, and escaped in a skimmer with most of the squadron as three Wraiths flew back to Hawk-bat Base in stolen TIE/IN Interceptors. Sarkin would also soon help Tainer repaint one of those Interceptors with a red spiderweb pattern for its service with the ersatz pirate group the Hawk-bat Independent Space Force.

Eight of the Wraiths, including Wedge and Sarkin, put in an appearance aboard the Mon Remonda to give more credence to the story that they were serving with the rest of the anti-Zsinj taskforce. It was during this time that Lara Notsil brought about the downfall of Colonel Repness, and Sarkin met the other woman and heard her story. She approached her commander, believing that her status as a pilot and an officer would be at stake as part of the fallout from the incident. She divulged her history with Repness to Wedge, expecting him to prepare for her to be pulled from the squadron. Wedge, however, recognized her value as a pilot and vowed to keep her as a part of the squadron unless and until she died or chose to transfer. He ordered Sarkin not to speak of the situation to anyone else unless they had talked to him first.

Both on the Mon Remonda and back at Hawk-bat Base, Sarkin shared a room with Lara Notsil. It was Sarkin who brought Lara her "mail from home," in actuality a secret message from Warlord Zsinj sent through the real Lara Notsil's brother Tavin. Though Sarkin did not understand the full extent of its meaning to her roommate, she compassionately offered to help Lara through the situation if she needed to talk.

Soon after this, Sarkin participated in the capture of the tanker Bastion. In TIE Fighters, she and saBinring accompanied the ship toward Halmad until Kell Tainer ordered them to break off rather than face the guns and starfighters of the Iron Fist.

Sarkin survived the mission and as a reward for the successes that Wraith Squadron had enjoyed, was able to take leave on Coruscant with Wedge, saBinring, Nelprin and Ekwesh. Upon their return, Sarkin was also present for Ekwesh's formal dance at Hawk-bat base, joining Kell Tainer to be the first couple on the dance floor.

Finally, after the many missions and the much-needed rest and relaxation, the Wraiths were set to participate in an ambush of Zsinj and his Iron Fist. Sarkin was part of the Hawk-bat unit that would be flying various TIEs as part of Zsinj's attack on the Kuat shipyards. Flying with her usual wingmate saBinring again, Sarkin helped the Gamorrean pilot cover his crash-landing on the surface of the Iron Fist.. She ended their series of successful encounters with Zsinj's forces by helping present Loran with the Award of the Mechanic's Nightmare.

Growing Force abilities
"I've been working so hard, to learn to relax into it, not to push at it&hellip; not to force the Force, as it were."

- Tyria Sarkin

Sarkin participated in the Battle of Levian Two and the strategy session in the Mon Remonda pilots' lounge that followed, but it was the planning and execution of Mission to Saffalore where Sarkin's Force abilities began to manifest themselves more prominently. Sarkin continued to practice her Jedi exercises and learned to relax into what she called a "flow-state," rather than forcing her powers. She had achieved one of these flow-states as the Wraiths did their surveillance on the BinRing Biomedical Product building, and was able to sense the pain and suffering of the test subjects within, helping Loran to identify their target.

During the mission, Sarkin was also able to sense the deliberate nature of a hole in Binring's security. Knowing that an seemingly unsecured area was actually being watched, she warned Nelprin and the other Wraiths and allowed them to slip through the outer security perimeter that had been set up specifically for the squadron by Doctor Edda Gast.

Inside the building, most of the Wraiths were caught in another trap, dropped into an incineration chamber from the floor above. While Sarkin did not land on her feet and was not one of the first Wraiths back up, she did not suffer any serious injuries from the fall, and managed to be the only Wraith present to evade any burns when the heat and flames in the chamber were activated. In fact, although all of her squadmates piloted their own fighters away from the engagement, Sarkin would be the only Wraith that Loran actually described as fit to fly.

Later, as the starfighter units from Mon Remonda prepared to jump to Jussafet, Sarkin sensed an impending attack and acted on it before she could even consciously recognize what she was doing. Jolted back to attentiveness after being told she was out of position, Sarkin realized that Nuro Tualin, an A-Wing pilot in Polearm Squadron, was faking a failure in his sublight drive to set up an attack run on Mon Remonda bridge. She warned the cruiser just before the Twi'lek fired, and looped around to target the brainwashed pilot. Though she could not find him with her X-wing's sensors, Sarkin closed her eyes to sense his mission and knew that Tualin was headed for the bridge. When she was again within visual range of the bridge, she could see Tualin lining up for another shot. Sarkin fired a proton torpedo and destroyed the fighter and its pilot.

Jedi Knight
"She's doing well. Mostly she travels with our boy, Doran. Teaching him the ways of the Jedi. She travels so far afield&hellip;she probably doesn't even know how bad the Yuuzhan Vong invasion has gotten. We have pretty much a long-distance marriage. Months of separation alternating with extravagant welcome-home celebrations. Back when you confirmed her in her rank as a Jedi Knight, that thrilled her for months. Years."

- Kell Tainer to Luke Skywalker on Tyria Sarkin Tainer

Some time after Wraith Squadron made the transition from the New Republic Starfighter Corps to New Republic Intelligence, Sarkin chose to further her understanding of the Force and train herself to be a true Jedi. Though Luke Skywalker had not thought she would ever progress very far, he later amended his opinion as Sarkin found the discipline she needed.

Although she never studied at the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 or trained directly under Skywalker, she was nonetheless always receptive of his teachings. Skywalker sent her communiqués and advice. She traveled and explored the galaxy in her search, progressing in her training at her own rate. Eventually, Master Skywalker confirmed her as a Jedi Knight, something that would thrill her for years. At some point she and Kell Tainer married, and they had a son, Doran Sarkin-Tainer, whom she began to train as a Jedi as well. Sarkin Tainer traveled far while teaching her son, staying away from the frontlines of the Yuuzhan Vong War. Both Sarkin Tainer and her son were present for the Conclave on Zonama Sekot in 29 ABY. At some point, Sarkin Tainer and her husband had a daughter, whom they named Jesmin after Jesmin Ackbar, and they largely raised her separately from Doran, which allowed Jesmin to know Garik Loran and Myri Antilles, the daughter of her former commanding officer. Jesmin was also Force-sensitive and was trained as a Jedi.

In 40 ABY, Sarkin Tainer was one of the Jedi assigned to Red Sword Flight, a half-squadron of StealthX fighters sent to attack the Sith known as Darth Caedus during a meeting with Corellian forces. Their plan was revised, though, when it was discovered that Caedus was in a starfighter along with a civilian, and the Jedi ultimately withdrew. Sarkin Tainer would also fly as Rakehell Seven during the operation to destroy Centerpoint Station. The assault was ultimately successful and Sarkin Tainer survived the engagement.

Rising Tensions
"Abandon your post and you'll be tasting my boot from a direction you never expected."

- Tyria Sarkin Tainer to Jedi Apprentice Bandy Geffer

In 44 ABY, while Tainer was working on a ship inside the Jedi Temple Hangar, Sarkin Tainer recognized that something was wrong when she noticed the holo feed of the news loop despite the newscast displaying a live feed. Suspecting an attack, Tainer and Jaina Solo alerted Kyp Durron and the other Masters to prepare to defend the Temple.

During the assault, Mandalorians hired by Chief of State Natasi Daala blew open the walls into the hangar. As the Mandos attacked, Tainer and Solo, alongside apprentice Bandy Geffer fought off five of the interlopers. Although Tainer put up a good fight, she was knocked unconscious with a solid hit to the jaw by one of the attackers. She survived the engagement in large part due to the actions of Solo, Geffer, and the late arrival of Raynar Thul.

Tainer was later called upon to assist in a Jedi StealthX mission to Nam Chorios, where the Jedi ambushed a strike force of Lost Tribe Sith arriving over the planet. She flew alongside fellow Jedi Knights Jaina Solo and Zekk and provided cover for a shuttle that was landing to extract Luke Skywalker and a group of Jedi from the surface. The Jedi Master asked her for the use of her starfighter and she relinquished the vehicle, so he could pursue a vessel containing a dark side entity that had been terrorizing the Jedi. Tainer remained with the extraction shuttle, as Skywalker had asked her to keep an eye on his son, Ben Skywalker, and see him to safety.

Personality and traits
Tyria Sarkin was a particularly determined and dedicated woman. Despite being told that she would not progress far as a Jedi, she continued to try to learn how to control her Force sensitivity, first in conjunction with her squadron duties, and later for the sole sake of becoming a Jedi Knight. She also constantly pushed herself to improve as a pilot, spending her spare time in X-wing simulators and getting better and better with practice. Initially, she had problems with her self-image, seeing herself as one of the worst. This was due to her past incidence with Atton Repness, which left her emotionally scarred until she came clean about the illicit behavior to her fellow pilots. Previously, she had been guarded and private about what she'd been coerced into doing. When referring to her past and her heritage as an Antarian Ranger, Sarkin was somewhat fatalistic, resigned to the fact she was the last of her people and that her line would die with her. During her early weeks with Wraith Squadron, she also felt that she was hopelessly incapable of using the Force. Both of these attitudes would later change as a result of her Jedi training and her relationship with Kell Tainer.

Sarkin did have a sense of humor, enjoying jokes, funny stories, and pranks during her time with the Wraiths. However, she occasionally found Ton Phanan's flirting and other behavior she considered boyish off-putting. She also cared about the well-being of her fellow pilots, helping bring Myn Donos out of catatonia after the loss of his astromech and persuading Kell Tainer to remain in Starfighter Command even when he intended to resign. Her relationship with the latter initially involved Sarkin rebuffing his attraction in order to make him realize who she really was, despite her own attraction to him.

Although she initially hid her past from her squadmates, Wedge Antilles also considered her one of the more honest members of the Wraiths. She told Antilles about her history with Atton Repness when she heard that it might affect the squadron. Her commander believed her to be an honest spirit, and knew simply by her personality that she had not been in on Ton Phanan's plan to bring down Repness. Up until her outburst and beating of Thri'ag, Antilles also considered her to be the most emotionally stable of the Wraiths.

Powers and abilities
With no formal Jedi training, Sarkin was able to actively achieve a flow-state that allowed her to sense both the pain and the awareness of beings within the Binring Biomedical facilities. Sarkin experienced several pieces of insight from the Force that allowed her to break through to Myn Donos amidst his emotional crisis. Although she continued to practice her talent, Sarkin also still had not done any Force training or been actively pursuing the Jedi way when she sensed Nuro Tualin's attack on Han Solo and the Mon Remonda. She did eventually become a Jedi without ever receiving formal training from a Jedi Master, and passed on that heritage to her son.

Aside from her Force talents, Sarkin was skilled at silent movement and intrusion due to her heritage as an Antarian Ranger. She was better at moving stealthily than even Wedge Antilles with all of his ground missions for the Rebel Alliance and New Republic. She was able to move with the wind, letting it cover any small sounds that she might make. When on ground missions, Sarkin was often chosen to take point for the group, and was regarded as one of the best infiltrators in Wraith Squadron. However, for the first few weeks of her tenure in Wraith Squadron, she consistently scored at the bottom of the unit in terms of piloting scores. Later in her life, though, she would be selected by the Jedi Order to participate in two high-value strike missions from the cockpit of a StealthX, flying alongside luminaries such as Luke Skywalker and Jaina Solo.

Behind the scenes
The character of Tyria Sarkin was originally created by Aaron Allston for his novels within the X-wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist and Solo Command. She also appeared briefly in narration in The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream, also by Allston, and made an appearances in The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force by James Luceno and Fury, again by Allston. Her likeness was based on a friend of Star Wars artist Joe Corroney. He first drew the character for an article on Wraith Squadron in an issue of Star Wars Gamer magazine.

Appearances

 * X-Wing: Wraith Squadron
 * X-Wing: Iron Fist
 * X-Wing: Solo Command
 * X-Wing: Isard's Revenge
 * The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force
 * Fury
 * Backlash
 * Conviction
 * X-Wing: Mercy Kill