Yrica Quell

Yrica Quell did not want to go to therapy.

She did not want to acknowledge her demons, remember her past, or continue fighting a war.

But in a galaxy divided, she had no other choice.

Broken both in body and in spirit, she sat across from a repurposed interrogation droid tasked with helping her recover from her trauma.

Perhaps, deep down, she knew the droid would someday learn her secret - and then, subsequently, the whole universe would know it, too.

Then there would be consequences -- ones she wouldn’t be able to outfly in a starship.

In 2019, Alexander Freed welcomed an entirely new cast of characters into Star Wars Canon. Alphabet Squadron began with a group of mismatched individuals assigned to a variety of starfighters who would need to learn to act as a team to accomplish their collective mission.

Alphabet Squadron, the unlikeliest of galaxy-changers, did just that.

As a key member of this group of underestimated New Republic heroes, Yrica Quell led her team from the cockpit of an X-wing fighter. She flew to serve her new government. She flew to drive what remained of the Empire out of the skies.

She flew to escape the worst thing she had ever done.

Having served as a member of Shadow Wing, she was now tasked with leading the charge to eliminating it. This was a task Hera Syndulla and Yrica’s fellow pilots believed she could achieve despite her history with the pilots she had once considered her lifeline.

Perhaps one of Yrica’s greatest faults was that she did not herself believe she could.

Wedged between the end of an era and a short-lived time of peace across the galaxy, the members of Alphabet Squadron wanted nothing more than to see the official end to the war -- the end of uncertainty; of fighting; of hopelessness.

Yrica Quell simply wanted to forget all that had come before.

In a hopeful act of spontaneity, Yrica had Alphabet Squadron’s insignia painted onto their ships - a surprise, to be sure, but one that gave the pilots a sense of community, of purpose. A reason to keep fighting.

She also tattooed the insignia onto her skin to show them her loyalty. As if to prove to them that her commitment to their cause would never waiver. As if to prove to herself that she was, once and for all, doing the right thing.

The final pages of Shadow Fall left readers devastated as they watched Yrica return to the Imperials she had supposedly left behind.

She could not quiet her demons. So she returned to the place where they were born.

And there is where she faced the most trying mission of all.

In the end, Yrica Quell had to face the consequences of her actions.

But she also learned the most important lesson of all - that forgiving ourselves, in the end, is the most challenging task we will ever endure.

Though Freed first introduced Yrica and the rest of Alphabet Squadron in a short trilogy of books, it’s our hope that this is not the last we see of these beloved characters.

They’ve told us many stories already. It would surprise us if they didn’t have even more to share.