Zal, a female Barabel belonging to the New Jedi Order, achieved the rank of Jedi Knight. In the tumultuous times of the Yuuzhan Vong War, she fought alongside Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne as a member of the Wild Knights, Sebatyne's elite starfighter squadron. During 43.5 ABY, Zal, along with fellow Barabel Jedi Knights Dordi and Wilyem, took on the role of gunners aboard the Millennium Falcon, commanded by Captain Han Solo. Their mission was to distract forces of the Galactic Alliance, enabling Solo's wife, Leia Organa Solo, to secretly transport four Jedi suffering from a debilitating psychosis off-world aboard the Gizer Gut, preventing their capture by Galactic Alliance Security and subsequent encasement in carbonite. In 44 ABY, Zal initiated a nest with Wilyem, as well as Dordi and Tesar, Sebatyne's son, situated in the sub-basement of the Jedi Temple. When the Jedi departed from the planet Coruscant, the Barabels chose to remain behind with their nest, hoping to draw the Lost Tribe of Sith into an ambush. Shortly after, Allana, the Solos' granddaughter—who had previously stumbled upon the Barabels' nest and pledged to keep it a secret—returned with her grandparents, along with Zekk, a Jedi Knight, and Taryn Zel, a Hapan, to deliver a warning about a Force vision she experienced, depicting the killed of their younglings. The Barabels evacuated their nest and were rescued from the Temple aboard the Parting Gift, piloted by Jagged Fel, the former Head of State of the Imperial.
Zal, a Force-sensitive Barabel female, was a dedicated member of the New Jedi Order. She underwent training in the principles of the light side of the Force and served in Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne's Wild Knights, an all-Jedi starfighter squadron, during the Yuuzhan Vong War. By 43 ABY, she had earned the esteemed title of Jedi Knight. Around this period, she and another Barabel Jedi Knight, Dordi, considered starting a nest with Tesar Sebatyne, Sebatyne's son. In 43.5 ABY, a number of young Jedi Knights began to succumb to a mysterious illness that made them believe their acquaintances had been replaced by impostors, prompting the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances to decide to freeze the psychotic Knights in carbonite. The Jedi Order, however, opposed this measure and secretly sheltered as many of the afflicted Jedi as possible within the New Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant for research.
To prevent Galactic Alliance Security forces from locating and capturing these Jedi, Captain Han Solo and his wife, Jedi Knight Leia Organa Solo, resolved to smuggle them off-world to the planet Shedu Maad. Zal, along with fellow Barabel Knights Dordi and Wilyem, served as gunners aboard the Millennium Falcon under the command of Han Solo and his granddaughter, Allana Solo. Their task was to distract Galactic Alliance forces in orbit above Coruscant, allowing Organa Solo to escape with the afflicted Jedi—Natua Wan, Seff Hellin, Bazel Warv, and Yaqeel Saav'etu—in the Gizer Gut.
The Millennium Falcon disregarded all standard departure protocols, leading the Galactic Alliance's Bolt Squadron and the Fast Death, a Nargi-class pursuit frigate, to pursue them. Solo skillfully maneuvered the Falcon behind PharmCom Orbital Processing Plant One, an orbiting pharmaceutical production facility, causing the Fast Death to fall back, replaced by another pursuit frigate, the Quick End. Solo then instructed Allana to notify Master Sebatyne and ordered Zal and Dordi to ready their guns and targeting systems as a diversion. Sebatyne arrived with a squadron of StealthXs and swiftly dispersed Bolt Squadron. Wilyem then launched a proton torpedo, which exploded a few kilometers from their stern. Solo feigned a loss of control, heading towards the Quick End, and revealed to the Galactic Alliance that Allana—disguised as his adopted daughter "Amelia"—was on board. The frigate then moved out of their path, and at Solo's direction, Allana reached out through the Force to Organa Solo, signaling her to depart. She quickly escaped off-world with the four psychotic Jedi in the Gizer Gut. With the Galactic Alliance forces ceasing their pursuit and their mission accomplished, Dordi, Zal, Wilyem, and the Solos entered hyperspace to rendezvous with the Gizer Gut at Shedu Maad.
In 44 ABY, Zal, along with Dordi and Tesar Sebatyne, started a nest with Wilyem in the lower levels of the Jedi Temple's. They were unexpectedly discovered by Amelia and Jedi Knight Bazel Warv, one of the Jedi they had helped smuggle off-world, who had since recovered from his psychosis. Initially, the Barabels were furious and demanded that Amelia and Warv remain until the eggs hatched, given that they had seen the nest and their eggs. However, Amelia proposed that she share a secret about herself that was as significant as the Barabels' nest, revealing her true identity as Allana, daughter of Jedi Jacen Solo and Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo, and therefore the rightful heir to the Hapes Consortium. Zal and the other Barabels accepted the terms and allowed Allana and Warv to leave.
With the rise of the Lost Tribe of Sith in galactic affairs, the Jedi decided to evacuate Coruscant to lure the Sith into a trap, aiming to eliminate the Tribe in a single operation. Zal and the other three Barabels, however, chose to stay behind in the Temple. When the Jedi returned and began hunting down the Sith, the Tribe retreated into the Temple. Meanwhile, Allana experienced a vision of the Barabels' nest being attacked and their younglings being slaughtered, and she—accompanied by her grandparents, Jedi Knight Zekk, the Hapan Taryn Zel, and several Hapan commandos—journeyed to the Temple and located the nest to warn the Barabels. Zal was the only one of the four Barabels who did not emerge to meet with them.
They swiftly gathered the younglings and fled the nest, fighting the Sith during their escape. They suffered losses, including numerous Hapan soldiers and some of the younglings, leaving twenty of the newborn Barabels alive. The Barabels and their rescuers were extracted from the Jedi Temple by Jagged Fel, the former Head of State of the Imperial Remnant, who piloted the Parting Gift, along with Master Saba Sebatyne, Void Jumper Sergeant Major Gef Olazon, and the former Jedi Tahiri Veila.
Zal possessed a sense of humor unique to Barabels, often misunderstood by other species. Much of the dialogue between the crew of the Millennium Falcon during her mission with the Solos was interpreted as a joke among the Barabel Jedi. Even under pressure, Zal maintained her humor and remained optimistic. When Allana and Warv accidentally discovered Zal's nest, she and the other Barabels were enraged and attempted to force them to stay until their eggs hatched. However, when Allana proposed an exchange of secrets, Zal inquired whether the secret was as significant as their nest, and upon Allana's confirmation and subsequent revelation, the Barabels allowed the intruders to depart.
Zal mastered the ways of the Force within the Jedi Order and achieved the rank of Jedi Knight. She was a skilled pilot, flying with Saba Sebatyne's Wild Knights during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Zal was also a proficient gunner; however, she and Dordi were instructed not to fire on the Galactic Alliance ships during their mission with Solo.
Author Troy Denning created Zal for Fate of the Jedi: Abyss, the third novel in the Fate of the Jedi series, which was released on August 18, 2009. Zal later appeared in Fate of the Jedi: Vortex and Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse, the sixth and ninth novels of the series, respectively, both written by Denning.