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Alphabet Squadron
A squadron of assorted starfighters — an X-Wing, a Y-Wing, an A-Wing, a B-Wing, and a U-Wing — under the command of General Hera Syndulla and Agent Caern Adan. Formed after the Battle of Endor, they were tasked to hunt down the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, known as Shadow Wing, after it launches a series of devastating attacks on the New Republic.
In General
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Not only is a team composed of a death seeker, a stoic Imperial defector, an ex-pirate, a compassionate animal lover, and a being whose very species is classified intel individually dysfunctional, but each flies a ship with a distinctly different combat role that tactically should not work as a cohesive unit. Despite their various foibles, they're able to play off each other's strengths very well and match some of the Empire's finest shot for shot.
- The Cameo: An Alphabet Two checks in at the beginning of The Cavalry scene in the The Rise of Skywalker novelization, but since we have yet to be given the callsigns of each member, we don't know who it is other than it probably isn't Yrica since as team leader, she would likely be titled Alphabet Leader.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: All five of them survive the Galactic Civil War with various physical and psychological scars.
- Everyone Is Bi: Yrica, Wyl, and Chass are all bisexual, having expressed attraction to individuals of both genders and referenced past boyfriends and girlfriends. Nath and Kairos' preferences are unclear, although it is hinted that Nath had a relationship with a female pilot in his last squadron while Kairos has yet to have any thought or comment about her potential romantic history.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: To a deleterious degree. Personal relationships within the squadron range from friendly, to apathetic, to outright hostile as a result of their mixed backgrounds and the haphazard manner in which the group was formed. This fractiousness results in a group that is held together more by circumstances and skill than loyalty to each other.
Yrica Quell
Lieutenant Yrica Quell
Species: Human
Homeworld: Gavana Orbital
A former TIE pilot in the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, Yrica abandoned the Empire after Operation: Cinder. After spending months languishing in a camp for deserters, she was recruited by New Republic Intelligence to lead a unit to hunt down her old unit as an X-Wing pilot.
- Ambiguously Brown: Judging by her depiction on the cover of Alphabet Squadron, she's not white. When asked if Yrica is Asian, Freed explain that he views her as of mixed ethnicity, with much of her heritage and features very evidently Asian.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Is on the receiving end of this by Hera, who asks her if she knows her pilots well enough outside of their file to know if they would fight for her and if they know that she would fight for them. Yrica has no response.
- The Atoner: Joins the New Republic and helps hunt down her old unit out of shame and horror at what she did for the Empire. At first, she was just going through the motions on this, but eventually truly seeks to make amends for her crimes.
- Becoming the Mask: Twice over. She was only part of the Empire at first to gain the skills she needed to become a Rebel pilot, but fell into being loyal to her squadmates and couldn't bring herself to leave. As a Rebel, she was initially looking to prove herself to the New Republic and earn a pardon and freedom for her prior Imperial service but found herself becoming loyal to Alphabet Squadron in turn.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has a very dry sense of humor when she's humorous at all.
- Defector from Decadence: She defected from the Empire after refusing to help carry out Operation: Cinder. Ultimately subverted. The climax of Alphabet Squadron reveals she carried out the operation with the rest of her squadron, then defected immediately after its conclusion.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Starts as an Ice Queen, but she warms up to her squad throughout the first book. This has less to do with personality and more about adapting to the differences between Imperial and Rebel operations. Imperials have to rely on discipline and planning since their ships tend to be made of tissue paper. Rebels can improvise, play to individual strengths, and make (small) mistakes.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Her efforts to redeem herself for her service to the Empire ensure that the New Republic grants her a new lease on life after the war ends.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Yrica was loyal to the Empire's principles up until Operation: Cinder was enacted. The people who surrender after Cinder? She looks on them as dangerous and irredeemable believers. They were asked to participate in planetary genocides - and never even blinked. Which makes her a bit of a hypocrite- she carried out her part in Cinder, then defected when she couldn't live with what she had just helped to do.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: She originally joined the Empire to receive pilot's training so she could then run off and join the Rebellion, but she got comfortable with her time as an Ace Pilot for the Imperials. It wasn't until Operation: Cinder that she realized it wasn't worth it, resulting in her Hazy-Feel Turn and later full-on Heel–Face Turn. She takes this up to an eleven by defecting again after the Battle of Cerberon, due to the truth about her involvement in Operation: Cinder being exposed and coming to believe that she has no place or future in the New Republic. Played out one last time when it turns out her last defection was because she decided, on her own, that she could do a better job to destroy Shadow Wing from the inside.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: She was an Imperial pilot, but defected after refusing to take part in Operation: Cinder. Though she's retrieved afterwards by rebels, she's stuck living in a deserters' shantytown until Adan recruits her to Alphabet Squadron, solidifying her Heel–Face Turn.
- Hunter of Their Own Kind: An ex-Imperial pilot, now a hunter of Imperial (pilots). She even used to be a member of Shadow Wing.
- Hypocrite: Ultimately, her contempt for Imperial defectors who quit after the second wave of defectors turns out to be this, as it is revealed she was a rebel sympathizer in the first place, but got cozy with her time as an Imperial and didn't leave until Operation: Cinder- which she also helped carry out. So with that context, she's been trying to convince herself with very close standards that she's nothing like the defectors that she detests.
- Interspecies Romance: Eventually with Chass.
- Last-Name Basis: She's mainly referred to by her last name, Quell.
- Meaningful Name: "Quell" means "to end".
- Mind Rape: Suffers this when she discovers one of the Emperor's Observatories, which force her to relive emotional and harrowing moments from her life as a test of her will.
- My Nayme Is: Her first name is pronounced "Ear-ica".
- No Sense of Humor:Nath: You do this to my ship? (Referring to the new paintjob she commissioned for them.)
Yrica: Does it look like I can paint?
Nath: Don't do it again! - The Stoic: She doesn't wear her emotions on her sleeve, that's for sure.
Kairos
Kairos
The mysterious and distant U-Wing pilot of Alphabet Squadron. Kairos has a past with Adan and the two trust each other entirely.
- But Now I Must Go: After helping Yrica stop Soran Keize from destroying the records of Imperial atrocities on Coruscant, she feels her debt to Adan is paid and begins to undergo her next metamorphosis. Kairos bids farewell to Yrica as she wants the next stage of her life to be one without the violence and pain her role in the Rebellion and New Republic entailed and departs for places unknown, with the remaining members of Alphabet Squadron having never seen her for at least ten years afterwards.
- Cool Mask: Wears a mask that covers the entirety of her face, adding to her mysteriousness.
- Meaningful Name: "Kairos" is an Ancient Greek word for "a moment of opportunity". In other words, the time to strike, which befits a starfighter pilot.
- Mysterious Past: No one knows anything about her. Nath and Chass mention talking with Kairos, but never betray any hint of her background or species. Even the few sections written from her point of view only confirm her gender and her hatred for the Empire. Adan reveals to Yrica that he met her in an Imperial prison where they were both tortured and eventually managed to escape together. The last book of the series finally reveals that she was the ambassador chosen by her species for their first contact with off-worlders, but these off-worlders turned out to be the Empire who captured her and tortured her..
- Only One Name: She's just Kairos to Adan and the squadron.
- Put on a Bus: She is badly injured early on in Shadow Fall and sent to recover at a New Republic medical facility for the rest of the novel. She does feature in some flashbacks and returns at the end healed and ready to rejoin.
- The Quiet One: She rarely speaks, and when she does it tends to be very short sentences.
- The Stoic: Although she's stunned when she checks out the new paintjob given to her U-Wing under Quell's supervision, and the few sections written from her point of view show she has an intense hatred for the Empire.
- Undying Loyalty: To Adan, although she does disagree with his decisions sometimes and shows more support for letting Yrica try to redeem herself.
Wyl Lark
Commander Wyl Lark
Species: Human
Homeworld: Polyneus
Alphabet Squadron's A-Wing pilot. Having spent his youth using flying beasts as mounts, he has a talent for piloting. He was among the hundred and twenty Polynean pilots sent to join the Alliance after the Empire began exploiting their homeworld.
- All-Loving Hero: Wants to find a way to make peace with Shadow Wing that doesn't involve killing them. This eventually drives him to refuse to participate in the Battle of Jakku, as he can no longer keep killing and tries to convince all the pilots under his command to do the same.
- Companion Cube: Wyl behaves this way toward his A-Wing, speaking to it like it's one of the flying beasts he rode as a child back on Polyneus.
- Fish out of Water: Although he likes his comrades well enough, Wyl finds many of their cultures strange and misses the simpler life he had on Polyneus.
- Improbable Piloting Skills: Even for an A-wing pilot, Wyl seems able to move a starfighter in ways that beggar belief. Nath jokes that Wyl flies "like he was podracing in diapers." It helps that Wyl probably has been flying since he was in diapers- and those mounts had a mind of their own.
- Martial Pacifist: Downplayed as Wyl has taken plenty of lives, but his deepest wish is for the fighting to stop and to go home where he doesn't have to kill people and has gone to some extreme lengths to try make it happen.
- Meaningful Name: A lark is a type of songbird. Fitting for an upbeat pilot like Wyl.
- Morality Chain: He is Nath's due to the other pilot liking Wyl and seeking his approval, which motivates Nath to be as much of a hero as he can be. The chain eventually breaks as Nath comes to resent Wyl and believes that no matter what he did he never truly earned his approval.
- Nature Hero: Wyl's homeworld Polyneus was very rustic and its people were in tune with nature and the wild beasts- children learned to ride wild animals rather than use speeders and starfighters. Wyl was apparently an exceptional beast rider, since he got volunteered by the matriarchs to join the Rebellion when the Empire began poisoning their atmosphere with an atmospheric monitoring post.
- Nice Guy: Described as such in synopses, Wyl is generally upbeat, apologizes for his mistakes, and only dreams of heading Home after the war.
- Pilot Errant: Wyl is idealistic, light-hearted, and wanders the galaxy to fight the Empire on behalf of his homeworld. His kind nature is almost sickeningly sweet to Nath, who jokes that he knows how far he's fallen by comparing himself to Wyl.
- Rank Up: He is promoted all the way up to commander through the series, being given commander over the Deliverance's entire starfighter wing.
- Sole Survivor: Of Riot Squadron, all of whom were killed by the 212th in the Oridol Cluster.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Wyl is sure that no one is completely evil and beyond saving and during the course of Shadow Fall he becomes convinced that at least some of Shadow Wing can be reasoned with after receiving a message from Blink warning him of an Imperial trap. That message was just a ruse to mess with Wyl and get him out of position from where he needed to be during the battle, and the one who sent it belittles him for ever believing it and abandoning his squadron at Jakku.
- There's No Place Like Home: He wants nothing more than to fulfill his duties to the New Republic so he can go back to Polyneus, which he and his fellow Polyneans call Home. He had planned on mustering out before Riot Squadron was killed and he decided that Shadow Wing had to be eliminated before he could go.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: He never stops believing that there are alternatives to fighting and that Shadow Wing could be convinced to stand down, even as they begin a second Operation: Cinder.
Nath Tensent
Captain Nath Tensent
Species: Human
The Y-Wing pilot of Alphabet Squadron. He has a personal bone to pick with Shadow Wing after they killed his previous squad.
- Affably Evil: The only reason Nath joined the Rebellion in the first place was because he and his squadron were discovered to be corrupt by the Empire and defected to the Rebellion to escape a death sentence. They continued their corrupt ways under the Rebellion.
- Dramatic Irony: Becomes an acclaimed hero on the planet Troithe for his efforts against the Empire. This despite the fact he's generally a scumbag. He is well aware of the irony but reluctantly plays the role for the morale of the other pilots he serves with.
- It's Personal: Shadow Wing killed his previous team. Ultimately subverted, as while he is happy enough to gain revenge for his friends, Nath only joins the team due to Adan offering him a ton of money.
- Military Maverick: Nath's service record is full of this sort of action. Yrica recruits him on a smuggler's station where he's hiring himself out as security for ships.
- During the final battle for Pandem Nai, Nath ignores Yrica's orders and secretly abandons the rest of the squadron, boards the Imperial command station, and chases down Shadow Wing's commanding officer before shooting her in the back.
- Only in It for the Money: His initial recruitment fails as revenge is not enough to motivate him to rejoin the Rebellion, but Kairos secretly gives him a message from Adan offering all the money he could gather in exchange for being his personal agent in the squadron.
- Though he does gun down Grandma on Pandem Nai, after getting her to fork over Yrica's flight records, getting his revenge for her ordering the murder of his squadron.
- Private Military Contractor: After the war, Nath puts together a mercenary crew which includes some of the survivors of Shadow Wing to run jobs for clients which includes deniable ops for New Republic Intelligence.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After taking down what is left of Shadow Wing at the Battle of Jakku, he rationalizes there's no point to continue fighting and falsely claims to have suffered engine damage to disengage from the fight.
- Sole Survivor: Of his previous unit, thanks to Shadow Wing.
- Token Evil Teammate: Charming as he may be, Nath is still corrupt and interested in money only. He even admits to Yrica that if he decides their mission is going south, he will settle for killing her as his revenge on Shadow Wing before deserting.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He is absolutely infuriated when Wyl refuses to fight at Jakku, accusing him of abandoning his pilots and forcing Nath to take command, a position that Nath resents because he feels like he isn't a hero and is burdened pretending to be one.
Chass na Chadic
Chass na Chadic
Species: Theelin
Callsigns: Riot 10
Alphabet Squadron's B-Wing pilot. She had a rough life prior to the Rebellion, jumping from one criminal hellhole to another before briefly joining the Partisans and then the Alliance.
- Ace Pilot: Chass is a great pilot, being one of the few survivors of multiple battles against the 204th.
- Cult Defector: When she was very young, Chass was forced into a cult known as the Inheritors of the Crystal by her mother. The "prophet" of the cult was a spice addict seeking followers to build up weapons and influence, and Chass eventually managed to escape it.
- The Cynic: Thinks the worst of everyone and everything.
- Death Seeker: Watching too many of her heroes die while she's still left standing has turned her into this, as she wishes to martyr herself for the cause like they have.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The large number of past cults she has been a part of and her fanatical devotion to the Rebellion make it clear that Chass just wants to have something in her life that gives it meaning, even if she feels she must die for that meaning to be given form.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Has a vision of herself surviving the war and being Driven to Suicide by poverty as well as a lack of purpose. While she does end up in poverty for a period after the war, she seeks out Yrica instead of killing herself and becomes employed by her and the two eventually end up together.
- Freudian Excuse: Grew up in a cult dedicated to the Force that was very abusive, giving her a negative view of religions in general and a cynical attitude about almost everything.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Finding out that Wyl was at the Battle of Endor is part of the reason why she dislikes him so much, even before he saves her life. Chass believes he was not "worthy" of being at Endor and wishes she had been there to die in the battle.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Potentially: humans and Theelin can have children, and Chass is in the dark about her family history. She personally identifies as Theelin but could have a human parent.
- Hero-Worshipper: She admires heroes like Jyn Erso, who actually saved her from being captured and sold into slavery when she was younger. Too bad most of them became casualties of the war...
- Hollywood Atheist: Assumes all religion is based on a scam and nonsense due to her Freudian Excuse. This is Star Wars and the Force is objectively real.
- Interspecies Romance: Eventually with Yrica a few years after the war ends.
- Music for Courage: Chass often flies into battle blasting Star Wars' equivalent to death metal.
- Noodle Incident: Has had prior experience with cults, which she has an intense dislike of. Her past with the Inheritors of the Crystal was eventually revealed, but it is suggested that there were other cults that Chass had encounters with in the past as well like the Unignited Stars.
- Ship Tease:
- With Sata Neek, a Ishi Tib in Riot Squadron who perished at the hands of the 204th before anything could come of their feelings.
- After meeting Yrica, Chass slowly starts becoming fond of her as well. Finding out Yrica participated in Operation: Cinder seems to ruin any chance of that happening, but they end up reconciling and eventually get together a few years after the war ends.
- Sole Survivor: Of Hound Squadron, which was slowly whittled down by the 204th during the chase through the Oridol Cluster. It is mentioned that was the second time she was the only survivor of a squadron. It's possible that squadron was the Cavern Angels with the Partisans.
- Ungrateful Bitch:
- Due to her seeking a heroic death in battle, she is infuriated when Wyl prevents her from dying in the Oridol Cluster. Chass even eventually forces him to swear to never save her life again and let her sacrifice herself if she tries to again.
- Does this again when she beats an innocent priest half to death after he saved her life. Chass attempts to justify this to herself under the assumption he was running some sort of scam on his parishioners.
T5
T5
Model: C1-series astromech droid
Nath's astromech droid.
- The Conscience: Frequently chews out Nath for some of his more questionable decisions, particularly when it comes to how he treats Wyl.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the war, T5 decides that he can no longer follow Nath as he becomes a mercenary and leaves him to be with Wyl instead, whom both T5 and Nath agree need the company of the droid more.
