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Yrica Quell | |
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| Biographical and chronological information | |
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Homeworld: |
Gavana Orbital |
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Home universe: |
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Nationality: |
Vian |
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Date of birth: |
18 BBY (1397 NE) |
| Physical and biological description | |
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Species: |
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Gender: |
Female |
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Height: |
5'11 |
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Weight: |
142 lbs. |
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Hair color: |
Blonde |
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Eye color: |
Grey |
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Skin color: |
Light |
| Societal and political information | |
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Affiliation: |
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Rank: |
Lieutenant |
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Occupation(s): |
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Status: |
Alive |
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Marital status: |
Unmarried |
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Master(s): |
Soran Keize (mentor) |
| [Source] | |
Yrica Quell is a human female starfighter pilot and leader of Alphabet Squadron within the Alliance of Nations (specifically the New Republic) and former Imperial pilot in the famed and feared 204th Imperial Fighter Wing in the Axis of Empires and Galactic Empire, as well as veteran of many multiversal and galactic conflicts, including all three multiverse wars, the Remnant Wars. Chaos Wars, and many other minor conflicts against countless enemies, where she fought for the Alliance.
Born 18 BBY (1397 NE) on the orbital station Gavana Orbital, Yrica never knew life in the Galactic Republic, as only a year after she was born, a new order was established by Sheev Palpatine. Yrica grew to slightly resent the new Empire, and as a passionate flyer, trained to be an Imperial pilot, which she greatly excelled at, to the point where it be requested that she join the famous 204th, where she quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant. Her goal was initially to take the advanced training and defect to the Alliance to Restore the Republic, but over time, came to favor the Empire and forgot her ambitions of betrayal.
Still, she first took part in the Galactic Civil War young and was not prepared for the horrors of war with the Rebellion. It shocked her deeply but forced her to mature faster. She stayed with the Galactic Empire longer than most, only choosing to defect after Operation: Cinder, believing, like many, that the Empire had gone too far by attacking their own people. When the 204th was ordered to guard the climate disruption array as it destroyed Nacronis, she came to feel extreme guilt over what she was allowing to happen, and at the secret urgings of her mentor and squadron leader, Soran Keize, defected, staging an escape where she would steal a TIE Fighter and escape, before being shot down by Soran, knowing that the New Republic would find her and take her into captivity.
The escape worked, though Yrica broke her arm in the process from her crash, and after the world-ravaging storm dissipated, New Republic recovery teams dispatched to the planet found her and captured her. After it was determined her intentions of joining the Republic were genuine, she was allowed command of a squadron several months later, comprised of many misfit pilots, each with their own different starfighter, giving the five-ship flight the nickname "Alphabet Squadron."
She would fly for the Alliance of Nations and the New Republic for years after and became famous among both sides for her skills as a pilot, though many Imperial loyalist pilots, such as Havina Vonreg despised her for being a traitor. She would continue to serve in the Remnant Wars and many wars with the Alliance after.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Yrica Quell was born in18 BBY (1397 NE). In the early years of the Galactic Empire, Yrica Quell was raised on a space station, the Gavana Orbital, prior to her military service under the Empire. When she was sixteen years old, Quell witnessed one of Mon Mothma's transmissions speaking out against the Empire. One of her friends convinced Quell that she should join the Rebellion. However, without any sort of training, Quell decided to join the Empire first and then defect to the Rebellion after training at the Imperial Academy.
As an Imperial pilot[]
Pre-Operation: Cinder[]
Quell enlisted with the intent to defect to the Rebel Alliance after graduation until she decided that she wanted to learn more and changed her plans, telling herself she would defect after a few missions. Quell soon graduated from the Academy and became a TIE fighter pilot in the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, better known as "Shadow Wing." However, she soon decided the Empire was not as bad as the propaganda made it out to be and didn't want to abandon her colleagues, stopping planning to defect. She became completely loyal to the Empire, despite her earlier desires to join the Rebellion. Her mentor, Soran Keize, knew this and made her keep it a secret. Her first and only enemy starfighter kill as an Imperial pilot would be an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor, shot down a few weeks after the Great Battle of Hoth.
Operation: Cinder and defection[]
As Operation: Cinder began two weeks after the Great Battle of Endor, Shadow Wing was ordered to destroy the planet of Nacronis. Quell carried out her orders and destroyed the planet but felt tremendous guilt afterwards. Keize found her and told her to finally defect to the Rebellion. After defecting, Quell was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp, along with twelve thousand other defectors who were processed at the base. While the New Republic was wary of her, she was deemed a low-value target, as she did not possess any classified or useful information; the New Republic was under the impression that she defected during Operation: Cinder and tried to stop the attack, though several remained convinced she was lying.
In the Alliance[]
Quell accepted a job with Allied intelligence to join the task force. Her first task was to recruit Nath Tensent, who had defected along with his entire squadron before the destruction of Alderaan after getting caught accepting bribes from pirates, from the trading outpost known as the Entropian Hive to join the task force. The mission was ultimately successful, though Tensent didn't agree to join until quietly bribed. After Tensent's arrival, Adan tasked Quell with listening to recordings of Imperials that New Republic Intelligence had assembled to help gather information on Shadow Wing. Quell was frustrated by this task and also was traumatized by having to listen to hours of recordings regarding Operation: Cinder, which she had participated in and helped the Empire commit terrible crimes against innocent worlds.
Several days later, Quell decided to steal a T-65B X-wing starfighter, and went on her own scouting mission to gather information about Shadow Wing. She returned and faced minor discipline from Allied agents, but they were more concerned about Quell's findings. She had discovered that Shadow Wing had attacked a New Republic ship, the Hellion's Dare, and killed almost all of the squadron pilots defending it except the two that escaped, Wyl Lark and Chass na Chadic. Both pilots joined the task force, and after a couple weeks, the five of them were invited onto the Lodestar, where General Hera Syndulla agreed to let them search for Shadow Wing. Alliance command reluctantly assigned Quell to be the leader of the new squadron. The mysterious masked pilot Kairos also joined the squadron.
As leader of Alphabet Squadron[]
Quell, who would eventually be dubbed "Alphabet Leader" by other pilot squadrons, led the newly minted Alphabet Squadron in a series of practice maneuvers to help the group learn to fly together. Their wildly different craft types and complete lack of coordination led to several near-death incidences, after which they resorted to using training simulators until they could learn to fly together. This worked slightly, but did not entirely solve their issues, as the pilots also had interpersonal issues with one another for a variety of reasons. Some of her squadronmates resented Quell for being an Imperial, but after a series of small missions, the pilots began to work out their issues.
Over the next two centuries, the unit hunted down the 204th, striking at their command, resources, and so on, final routing them with the rest of the Empire just before the Battle of Jakku in 2366 NE, where the Alliance of Nations launched a full-scale assault on the Imperial bastion world. Alphabet participated in the battle, though Quell was kept from the battle by prior injuries gained during a deployment in the Duyi'zu Universe only a few days prior. She recovered completely the day after the fighting concluded, and was grateful the Empire had surrendered.
She would return to Alphabet Squadron and continue to lead them through the rest of the First Multiverse War, leading them through the bloody Battle of Valia, which gave Yrica a severe post-traumatic stress disorder after its conclusion. She would spend the final years of the war and the interwar period emotionally recovering, before returning to service. Many still believed she was dangerous, but others argued she had proven her loyalty to the Republic and the Alliance through her actions, and she was allowed to continue service.
Remnant Wars[]
Chaos Wars[]
Second Multiverse War[]
Skills and abilities[]
Equipment[]
During her time in the Galactic Empire, Yrica flew a TIE/ln starfighter in the majority of her engagements against the Alliance to Restore the Republic. While she proved more proficient at outmaneuvering Rebel starfighters than many other Imperial pilots, even in the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, she was not as effective at killing Rebel starfighters, her only recorded Imperial kill on the Alliance being a single RZ-1 A-wing interceptor. This is most commonly attributed to the lack of maneuverability of the TIE craft as part of its terrible design.
In the New Republic’s Alphabet Squadron, Yrica piloted a T-65B X-wing starfighter, which she was far deadlier with, thanks to the craft’s maneuverability increase, shields, better thrusters, hyperdrive, and weapons arsenal. While certainly far from the best X-wing pilot in the Alliance of Nations, she is better than most. Her X-wing is personalized to her in liveries and calibration of settings.
Yrica typically wore a New Republic-brand flight suit, but for most of the war, neglected customizing the design on her helmet, and in the Galactic Empire, wore the typical all-black uniform of TIE pilots, which was tighter and had poor visibility in the helmet. Outdated the cockpit, she typically wore a leather jacket and gray jeans, and had her own personal blaster pistol for self-defense.
Personality and traits[]
Quell has a strong sense of duty that kept her from defecting from the Empire despite her intentions to do so after graduating from Academy. She has an extremely good memory. Not long after its formation, Quell had the Alphabet Squadron crest tattooed on her biceps. She was known to be temperamental, withdrawn, and a superlative flyer. Quell found comfort in order and regularity, something she and others believed kept her in service to the Empire. She only actually left Imperial service after being ordered to by her commanding officer at the time. Despite wanting to serve with the New Republic, she never felt completely comfortable with its lax style and patterns, though she recognized the advantages of some of their unorthodox or improvisational combat plans.
For most of her time in Imperial service she felt a sense of discomfort about the nature of some of their missions and was greatly influenced by Soran Keize to focus on serving her comrades rather than thinking about the larger implications of their missions. This left her with a profound sense of guilt, particularly after the mission to eliminate Nacronis as part of Operation: Cinder. It took her years to come to terms with the guilt, and even after she carried a lingering sense that she was spared the punishment she deserved.
Quell was known to be quite liberal with her love life, and being bisexual, dated a number of individuals throughout her life, though few were ever really serious, most being casual liaison with her comrades, many in the 204th. She ceased these leisurely relationships upon defecting to the Rebellion and being placed in command of Alphabet Squadron, believing it unprofessional to have a relationship while in a command position, especially with those under her, though she did find herself attracted to some others.