Raist is the main character in the Project: AKRA story.  He is an AGEd Leader Class soldier and is in command of four other characters, Philira, Agrest, Ziko and Leio who are tasked with going down to a hostile planet to recover ‘AKRA’.  He is a soldier who is not well known due to his extreme secretive position but within groups like the Star Priestesses is known for his record and dedication.  He is relatively young as far as Leader Class soldiers go, and has only has his team for a relatively short time – around a few years.

He possesses very high level AGEd background and training, as well as access to the highest technology the Solarians are given by the Aelisha. His outer demeanor is that of slight over-confidence but it hides a self-loathing having lost a squad member in his past a Scout named Laiun.  Despite his shallow exterior he has an esoteric bend to his mentality that comes to play given AKRA’s true meaning.

 

Past:

As all Leaders do, spent a very long time in training, this is where he met his future Scout, Laiun who was his training partner for a long time.  She was sent into the field while he completed his longer training.  His first core mission was reconnaissance in nature, and his original squad was himself, Sniper Agrest (fresh out of training), Scout Laiun (who was re-assigned to him from a direct action group), and Support Leio (who also came from another larger combat group).  They accomplished all missions despite the odds.  Approximately a year as a group, Laiun was killed during an ambush and sacrificed herself to buy time for Raist to make it back to the others.

Laiun was replaced by Scout Philira who was fresh out of training (age ~16).  She has since served with him for the years that followed.  He had been reclassified from reconnaissance soon after Philira joined into more hands ons operations, and his squad size was increased to five members and got the Assault Ziko where they accomplished many more missions without any losses.  His nearly immaculate record lead to him getting deeper and deeper into the secretive world of the elite Solarian Military.

No one left behind:

Raist was never predisposed to it to begin with, but the loss of leaving Laiun behind hurt him very deeply because he knew it had to be done unless everyone would be killed.  This led to many times where he would subject himself to increased danger to save or recover members of his squad.  It went against many trainings as a Leader given that their class took the longest to train and the others were viewed as slightly more replaceable.

His group would loyally follow his command that often risked them all to save the one.  Given it was always succesful, and it happened to everyone at least once it inspired an incredible loyalty out of his squad and cemented their belief that any of them would die trying to save Raist.

This biggest was on Reiko-3 (the same star system that Reiko-10 takes place at) which was a jungle planet.  They were to rescue a Star Priestess from a group of rebels that ended up being a trap to try to kill the team.  Ziko took a sniper round in the arm blowing his arm off, he was pinned down by suppressive fire.  They had recovered the Priestess and Philira was buying them time for a clear escape.  Ziko was deep behind enemy lines when the trap was sprung.  For all intents he should have been dead, or left for dead.

Raist rallied his team leaving Agrest to stay with the Priestess while providing long range cover as him and Leio fought their way in with Philira flanking.  Raist took a few shots in the leg but due to Leio’s medical knowledge was a minor problem as they got to Ziko.  She helped stabilize him enough that they could fight their way out with Agrest and Philira’s cover.  Together the squad successfully escaped.  It was the closest call they had to losing anyone and everyone knew Raist should have probably left Ziko but with quick thinking and luck everyone had lived.

 

 

Major Spoilers for Project: AKRA:

 

 

*Please don’t read below unless you have finished the story as this is a very key reveal and spoils a major part of the book*

 

 

At the end of the story it is revealed the figure who sent him on the mission at the beginning was a former Scout of his, Laiun.  They had trained together, and he had a greater awareness of the Emotion Field than she did as youths – a fact that lead her to assigning him on this mission.  He does not know she survived nor became a Star Priestess. His early thoughts and sensitivities helped awaken Laiun who later was pulled into the Star Priestess organization after surviving the battle.  In the final stand she let the group escape due to her sacrifice, the edge of death encounter awoke Psionic powers that allowed her to survive and later become part of the Star Priestess group.