Danni Quee

"Master Skywalker, I hope you won't think I don't value what I have learned with the Jedi because I came to this decision quickly, but I was never a true member of the order, and my future lies with Zonama Sekot."

- Danni Quee resigning the New Jedi Order at Conclave on Ossus

Danni Quee was a New Republic scientist during the Yuuzhan Vong War. She was present at the very first Yuuzhan Vong incursions into the Galaxy, experiencing the horrors of war and the ferocity of the invaders. Danni, though originally an astrophysicist, soon became an expert on the Yuuzhan Vong's biots and biotechnology. She was constantly near the front lines on the war, seeking to decipher the alien organisms while honing her latent Force abilities. Her efforts led to the development of yammosk detection and jamming equipment, a valuable contribution to the war effort. Danni accompanied Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo to Zonama Sekot, where she was fascinated by the living planet. At the war's end, Danni remained on Zonama Sekot, resigning from the Jedi Order during the Dark Nest Crisis.

Early life
Danni was the daughter of an astrophysicist mother and a bureaucrat father. Her parents divorced when she was still a child, and Danni opted to stay with her mother, who started her on her career as an astronomer. A prodigy herself, Danni decided to leave the crowded Core Worlds at the age of 15. She joined the Extragalactic Society, which stationed her on Belkadan in 22 ABY.

Discovery of the Yuuzhan Vong


By 25 ABY, Danni was in charge of ExGal-4, enjoying the world and her work there, and the fifteen other members of the station looked up to her as their nominal leader. She had already shown initiative, killing a redcrested cougar and repairing a damaged orbital telescope. She was the de facto leader of the station, keeping it running well through measures such as forbidding ryll spice use. Little did she guess that one of her new crewmembers was Yomin Carr, an advance scout for the Yuuzhan Vong.

She was delighted when the equipment scanning the edges of the galaxy discovered what appeared to be an asteroid had breached the galactic edges. Tracking the "asteroid", Danni and her crew determined that it was on a collision course with the planet Helska IV. Despite their communications to ExGal headquarters going offline, Danni did not realize that it was an invasion or suspect a threat from the anomaly. After reclassifying the "asteroid" as a "comet" because they had discovered a tail on it, Danni rounded up two members of her team, Bensin Tomri and Cho Badeleg, and they took the station's Spacecaster to further investigate why the "comet"'s collision had not caused Helska IV to explode.

While traveling to Helska IV, the three discovered that the "comet" as actually a worldship of the Praetorite Vong, and their attempts to contact ExGal-4 or escape the system were in vain. The Spacecaster was captured, and Tomri and Badeleg were killed by the invaders. Danni's life was spared at the request of Yomin Carr, a Yuuzhan Vong advance scout that had infiltrated ExGal-4. Danni was considered worthy enough to be a sacrifice to their gods, and was held captive on Helska IV in preparation.

Meanwhile, Yomin Carr destroyed the outpost on Belkadan, leaving no survivors. On Helska IV, Danni was soon joined by another captive, the Jedi Miko Reglia, who had responded to her distress call, and she witnessed his torture as the yammosk tried to break his will after the Jedi and scientist had tried to escape. However, help was on the way, as the Solo twins arrived insystem in an iceborer with a New Republic fleet following them not long afterwards. After sensing her in the Force and receiving her mental distress call, Jacen Solo arrived on Helska IV to rescue both Danni and Miko while Jaina remained in orbit. However, Danni watched in horror as Miko sacrificed himself along with two Yuuzhan Vong warriors in an attempt to cover their escape. The two blasted off of the planet in Jacen's stylus ship, which he had used to get into the icy world and met up with Jaina in the main iceborer, who docked with their ship and launched them into hyperspace, flanked by the Millennium Falcon and Jade Sabre. In the close quarters of the stylus ship, Danni's grief for Miko and her co-workers on Belkadan overcame her resolve and hardened exterior, and Jacen comforted her as she wept, both ignoring their bedraggled appearances, injuries, and scanty Yuuzhan Vong garb. Later, she provided the information she had gleaned from her captivitity to Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker and the Solos, leading to the successful resolution of the Second Battle of Helska. Danni rode out the battle in the Jade Sabre, helping with the piloting of the ship as best as she could.

The Yuuzhan Vong invasion


"They had me once, and I don't want to be their prisoner again. I couldn't stand it, I just couldn't."

- Danni on Yuuzhan Vong captivity

Two months after her escape from Helska IV, Danni accompanied Leia Organa Solo to Coruscant to inform the Senate of the threat the Yuuzhan Vong pose to the Galaxy. After the Senate dismissed Leia's claims as a power grab on her part, Danni returned to Commenor to spend some time with her family and recover from her ordeal on Helska IV.

Danni then spent some time developing her latent Force talents under the instruction of Jaina Solo, and accompanied both Jaina and Leia to a conference on Agamar in order persuade the Agamarians to house refugees from the planets the Yuuzhan Vong had conquered. Due to Leia's status as a hero and Danni's report on the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong, the Agamarians agreed to house the refugees.

After the conference, Jaina and Danni accompanied Leia to Dubrillion, where Danni fully experienced the pain and despair of the people, who had been attacked by the Yuuzhan Vong. Jaina helped her develop her control over some over what she sensed in the Force, and Danni helped Jaina with her struggle to develop her own identity. As Leia and Lando Calrissian prepared to evacuate Dubrillion, Danni was ferried out on the Ralroost to Dantooine, where Jacen, Luke, Mara, and Anakin Solo were, along with many refugees. However, Danni's tutelage under Jaina was cut short when Jaina transferred into Rogue Squadron. Instead, she spent some time with Jacen Solo, and though she felt some feelings for him, especially after his rescuing her from the Yuuzhan Vong, she told him that she thought he was better for her as a friend. She later utilized her flegling Force skills to help Leia ferret out disguised Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators in the Dantooine refugee camp via use of the Force, at the same as the raging Battle of Dantooine. While doing so, she helped defend Lando Calrissian from an attack by the Yuuzhan Vong spies. One of the Yuuzhan Vong attempted to use a child as a hostage, holding a purloined blaster to the child's head, but Danni used telekinesis to slip the power pack out of the blaster, and Leia killed the Vong warrior.

Leia and Danni then would journey to Bastion to meet with Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon regarding Imperial support against the Yuuzhan Vong. Danni was nervous about the meeting, but Pellaeon agreed to look over the material Leia sent him and pledged limited aid to the New Republic, most of which took place at the Battle of Ithor.

Aiding the war effort
"We must train you to fly an A-wing, Danni Quee. The Wild Knightz could use someone as crazy as you."

- Saba Sebatyne to Danni Quee

Danni would later journey with the other Jedi to Eclipse, a Jedi safe haven set up after the public began turning on them. While there, she began working with Cilghal on a way to track and identify the yammosk war coordinators in hopes of also finding means to counter them. Just before the attack on Coruscant, Danni was stationed with Saba Sebatyne and her Wild Knights, and assisted them in their skirmishes against the Yuuzhan Vong. During a battle over Arkania, Danni determined the gravitic frequencies that the yammosks used to communicate, though she also helped the Wild Knights shoot down coralskippers and avoid enemy fire as they flew through the enemy fleet, gathering valuable sensor data on the way. A significant aid to her work came at the Battle of Talfaglio when they were able to capture an intact, albeit frozen, yammosk.

However, Danni was angry upon learning of the Mission to Myrkr, both at the foolhardy nature of the mission and that she hadn't been asked to go along by Luke Skywalker. In response, Danni buried herself in her gravitic research, and she and Cilghal took the Jade Shadow on a trip to Borleias to ferry equipment there, returning to Eclipse just as the Battle of Eclipse started when the Yuuzhan Vong chased the Errant Venture through the system. By this time, Danni had developed methods for detecting the yammosks, though not how to disrupt their gravitic communications. Danni flew on the Wild Knights' blastboat again, but was disappointed when they failed to capture a live yammosk, which she felt was vital to any future breakthroughs they would have on countering the yammosks. Thankfully though, Luke Skywalker was later able to retrieve one for her and her team at the Battle of the Black Bantha, ferrying it back to Eclipse for research and examination.

Danni was again thrust into action with the Wild Knights at the fall of Coruscant, flying once more with the Wild Knights in the massive engagement. In the midst of the battle, Danni helped coordinate attacks on the Yuuzhan Vong yammosks and a transmission from Cilghal completed the puzzle. As the capital burned, Danni activated her yammosk jamming for the first time and effected the escape of Millennium Falcon from Coruscant in the process, finally providing a countermeasure for the Yuuzhan Vong's coordinators. The jamming, which disrupted the communications paths from the yammosks to the ships they controlled, threw the Yuuzhan Vong forces into disarray when used, depriving them of the eerie synchronization they had used to great effect throughout the war.

"A yammosk has just been jammed. Danni, Cilghal, congratulations. Your success came too late for Coruscant, but it gives me hope for the future."

- Luke Skywalker

When Coruscant fell, Danni Quee accompanied the Wild Knights and Wedge Antilles's Fleet Group Three to Borleias, where she participated in the defense of the planet, with Wedge placing her in charge of all captured Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology. During that battle, Danni continued to work with the Wild Knights and also creating a sensing device to determine if the Yuuzhan Vong were tracking refugee ships via one of their creatures. Her life was placed in danger when Tam Elgrin, a holocam operator forcibly controlled by the Yuuzhan Vong, was assigned to spy on her as she was working on the Starlancer Project. Her efforts convinced the Yuuzhan Vong of the dangerous nature of the weapon, as planned. Tam was ordered to kill her, but he resisted the order, feeling that she didn't deserve to die and was smitten with her. Eventually, Tam resisted his controllers enough and confessed his spying to Jaina Solo, ending the threat to Danni's life.

The tide turns
"It's Danni Quee's doing. It has to be. She's the only one who could integrate Yuuzhan Vong and New Republic technology this way."

- Viqi Shesh on the Starlancer Project

However, Danni did not stay on Borleias for the duration of the battle, instead accompanying Luke, Mara, Tahiri, and the Wraiths to occupied Coruscant. Disguised as a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, Danni and the others explored the planet, examining what the Vong had done to the planet and learning the origins of Lord Nyax when they stumbled into a secret chamber where he had been augmented. Danni and Baljos Arnjak's studies revealed that Coruscant was a thoroughly changed world and that it would not ever be the same for many years. Force-sensitive though she was, Danni did not join the three other Jedi in hunting down Nyax, as she would have been of little use and didn't have a lightsaber. Instead, she focused on her studies until the team evacuated in the Ugly Truth. Her Force sensitivity did allow her to experience the disturbances and influences that Nyax generated though, much to her chagrin. Returning to Borleias, she once again served the garrison there with her array of gravitic sensors.

Following their evacuation to Mon Calamari from Borleias after the Domain Hul worldship was destroyed, Danni continued to conduct her research on Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology. However, the formation of the Galactic Alliance caused her team to be transferred from the Jedi to the government. Her part of the theoretical work was deemed complete and she was given little else to do, despite her prior achievements. Instead of scientific research, she began training in setting up resistance cells and communications, determined to remain involved in the war effort. Her Jedi training, which had never really been a main focus for her, was hit-and-miss, and she was not considered a full-fledged knight. This lapse in activity did give her some spare time to spend with friends such as fellow astrophysicist Thespar Trode and Jacen Solo, who had just escaped from Yuuzhan Vong torture and captivity, and she told him about a group of geneticist friends of hers who were working with the Chiss on the Yuuzhan Vong genome. Danni would also later attend a reception thrown in honor of the young Jedi Knights, including Jacen, many of whom had just been knighted. Many of them soon left for Kashyyyk to join Traest Kre'fey's fleet though, and she continued her work and training on the provisional capital of Mon Calamari.

Into the Unknown
"Why do I keep allowing myself to get talked into these things, Jacen?"

- Danni Quee to Jacen Solo



In the final months of the war, she accompanied Jacen, Mara Jade Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Saba Sebatyne (whom Danni persuaded to join them), R2-D2, and Jedi healer Tekli to the Unknown Regions in an attempt to locate the living planet, Zonama Sekot. Boarding the Jade Shadow, the group set their course for the Unknown Regions. Their first layover was over Bastion, the Imperial capital, but they arrived in the midst of the Battle of Bastion. Thankfully, the Jade Shadow avoided most of the combat, retreating to Yaga Minor with the rest of the Imperial fleet, although their reception by the Empire was somewhat frosty until the return of Gilad Pelleaon from Bastion. After Pellaeon and Jacen planned a trap for the Vong at Borosk, Danni's yammosk detecting and jamming equipment was given to the Empire, and she flew in the Jade Shadow with Mara in the Battle of Borosk. However, when Saba Sebatyne proposed using a ship as bait for the Vong in order to free the slaves imprisoned inside a Yuuzhan Vong vessel, Gilad Pellaeon provided the Braxant Bonecrusher as a sacrificial vessel to get them close to the slave-carrier. Danni, armored in a combat jumpsuit, huddled in the Jade Shadow, which was docked inside the Bonecrusher's hangar bay, until Jacen and the droid brains flew the ship past the slave carrier. Once the slave ship extended tentacles into the Dreadnaught to search for victims to capture, Danni and Saba were pulled through them into the Yuuzhan Vong vessel, where she launched miniature assassin droids to attack the Yuuzhan Vong crew. Once the crew was defeated, she and Saba got the prisoners out and back into the Bonecrusher in a mass of blorash jelly, where they were cut out and the ship then jumped to safety. The Empire went on to win the battle, and the Yuuzhan Vong retreat. The foolhardy stunt of Danni, Jacen, and Saba also earned them the esteem of the Empire, and the frigate Widowmaker joined their mission as an escort as they left the Empire.

She and Jacen began growing closer, and might have perhaps fallen in love but for their separation. At the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, Danni stayed on Zonama Sekot (along with Tahiri Veila and Tekli) to study the planet's flora and fauna, while Jacen left to follow his own path.

Quee continued on as a part of the New Jedi Order, but following Luke Skywalker's Jedi convocation on Ossus in 36 ABY, she resigned from the organization.

Personality and traits
"This one is a scientist. This one didn't use to know how to kill."

- Danni Quee to Saba Sebatyne

Danni was a dedicated scientist with a passion for exploring and learning new things. Also, she was known for her initiative and resilience, earning the respect of Yomin Carr, a Yuuzhan Vong infiltrator. While she was the subject of much male attention at ExGal-4, Danni ignored it, deferring romance for later in life, though she hoped to one day be married and have children.

She was horrified by the Yuuzhan Vong and their penchant for cruelty, though innately curious about their biotechnology. Her captivity and the death of Jedi Miko Reglia shocked her, but she again displayed her inner strength by returning to the front lines of the war in the Outer Rim. However, she was never a warrior and was not skilled with conventional weapons or lightsabers. When it was discovered she was Force-sensitive, she received some training in the use of the Force by Jaina Solo and was a quick study, learning basic telekinesis easily and saved Lando's life with the skill. As the war progressed, Danni continued to display her characteristic resourcefulness, endurance, and intelligence by providing the New Republic with valuable techniques to counter the Yuuzhan Vong, even at the cost of considerable danger to herself on many occasions. Danni was devoted to learning throughout her life, even giving up the Jedi Order for the sake of learning, as she felt her future was on Zonoma Sekot.

Jacen Solo
"Liquids under pressure don't boil when they should, and emotions tend to act the opposite way. I think you are wonderful, and I treasure you as a friend. Anything else, well, as you said, the future is constantly in motion."

- Danni Quee to Jacen Solo

Prior to her first encounter with the Yuuzhan Vong, Danni displayed little interest in pursuing romantic relationships. After being rescued by Jacen Solo, Danni felt some attraction to him as he was there for her, comforting her after her capture and bringing her momentos and holos from her ruined station on Belkadan. For his part, Jacen saw Danni as the first woman he had been attracted to outside the Jedi Academy, and his seeing her as a "damsel in distress", as well as the level of physical contact necessitated by the confines of the stylus ship they had blasted off Helska IV in imparted a different dynamic to their relationship. On Dantooine, when she saw him next, Danni realized that he would be better as a friend for her, though, saying that under different circumstances something might have developed between them.

Behind the scenes
Danni Quee first appeared in the novel Vector Prime, and was created by R. A. Salvatore.

Danni was originally going to be the main character of the cancelled Knightfall trilogy. However, after the first novel was completed, the trilogy was cancelled due to the dissatisfaction of LFL and Del Rey regarding how the story was advancing.

In Dark Tide II: Ruin, Danni Quee journeys with Leia Organa Solo to Bastion, where she meets Gilad Pellaeon. However, in Force Heretic I: Remnant, Danni states that she has never met any Imperials. Also, in Dark Tide I: Onslaught, Danni states that she is not romantically interested in Jacen Solo, while the Force Heretic trilogy has her attraction to Jacen as a plot point. These discrepancies have not been addressed yet.

Appearances

 * Vector Prime
 * Dark Tide I: Onslaught
 * Dark Tide II: Ruin
 * Balance Point
 * Knightfall I: Jedi Storm
 * Knightfall II: Jedi Fire
 * Knightfall III: Jedi Blood
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Traitor
 * ''Destiny's Way
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Force Heretic III: Reunion
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War

Notes and references
Danni Quee