Qorl

"We're not out of this yet. Twice I've been shot down on Yavin Four. My luck's not so good when it comes to getting out of this system."

- Qorl

Qorl was a TIE Fighter pilot stationed on the first Death Star, who was shot down during the Battle of Yavin. Crashing on Yavin 4, he eked out an existence in the jungle, until encountering the Solo children and other Jedi trainees 23 years later. After successfully escaping the moon, he linked up with the Second Imperium splinter movement, training their pilots and leading an assault on the jungle moon.

Shot down a second time, Qorl returned to the jungle where he would live undisturbed until the Yuuzhan Vong War once again brought him into contact with a Solo, this time Anakin. Together they escaped the moon.

Imperial service
"We must obliterate the Rebels at all costs. Rebels cause damage to the Empire. The Emperor's New Order will save the galaxy. The Rebels want to destroy that dream, and so we must eradicate the Rebels. They are a cancer to peace and stability."

- Qorl

Qorl was a TIE Fighter pilot serving in the Imperial forces assigned to the first Death Star, with the designation CE3K-1977. During the Battle of Yavin, Qorl flew with his squadron against the Rebel forces. According to the account Qorl gave to Jacen and Jaina Solo in 23 ABY, all TIE squadrons on the Death Star were launched during the battle. This statement is at odds with evidence presented by Wedge Antilles and others, indicating that only Darth Vader's elite escort unit Black Squadron saw action during the battle. Taking all the evidence into account, it seems most likely that Qorl was a pilot from Black Squadron.

One of the solar panels of Qorl's TIE Fighter was badly damaged by X-Wing defensive fire, sending his fighter spinning out of control. Qorl found his fighter's orbit was decaying, sending the fighter spinning towards the fourth moon of Yavin. His controllers instructed him to make an emergency landing on Yavin and await rescue. Qorl managed a controlled crash that threw him from his fighter, left him with broken bones in his left arm. This may have been the TIE crash which killed Rebel naturalist Dr'uun Unnh.

Shortly after his crash-landing, Qorl witnessed the Death Star explode in the sky. It would be the last he would see of the Imperial forces for over twenty years. Despite his injuries, Qorl managed to survive in the moon's jungles, obeying his last orders to remain near the crash and await rescue.

Second Imperium
"Surrender is betrayal."

- Qorl

In 23 ABY, Qorl's downed TIE Fighter was discovered by the Jedi trainees Lowbacca, Tenel Ka, Jacen Solo and Jaina Solo. Jaina eagerly seized the opportunity to dabble in mechanics, and with her friends' help, she set out to repair the damaged starfighter and fit it with a new hyperdrive. The young Jedi had no idea that the TIE's pilot had survived, but when Qorl discovered the Solo twins working on his craft, he saw an opportunity to escape. He decided to bide his time and wait for them to complete the repairs while he kept an eye on their progress.

The repairs to the fighter were almost complete when Jacen, scavenging for wreckage in the jungle around the crash-site, stumbled upon the hollowed-out tree that had been Qorl's home for the past 20 years. The old pilot responded by kidnapping Jacen and Jaina at blaster-point, and trying to kill Lowbacca and Tenel Ka as they fled.

Qorl forced his prisoners to finish the repairs to his fighter, and in the meantime, he learned from them of the events of the last twenty-three years, including the downfall of the Empire at Endor and the fact that in the wake of the peace between the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire, there were still a few loyal holdouts left in the Deep Core.

When the repairs were complete, Qorl attempted to destroy the Great Temple, but he was unsuccessful because he hadn't checked whether his weapon systems were still functional. He left Yavin 4 for the Deep Core and found the Shadow Academy, run by the Dark Jedi Brakiss. Qorl gave his report, noting his encounter with the Solo twins. Brakiss extrapolated from this that Luke Skywalker was now training a new generation of Jedi, who could be more easily indoctrinated into following the dark side of the Force than the adults who he had trained with during his brief stay at the Jedi Praxeum.

After joining the cause of the Second Imperium, Qorl's injured left arm was removed and he was fitted with a bulky mechanical prosthetic from the shoulder down. He liked the new arm since it gave him more strength. He later embarked on his first mission for the Second Imperium, piloting the assault shuttle that was the key to the success of the raid on GemDiver Station.

Qorl had profound misgivings about the fact that Brakiss and his assistant instructor Tamith Kai used lethal means to determine which trainees were worth training. However, from his point of view, he was just a pilot and no one listened to him. Serving his Empire was what he viewed to be right. However, these doubts led him to help the Solo twins and Lowbacca escape from the Shadow Academy. In the end, he reasoned that the new students were far more trouble than they were worth. If Brakiss and Tamith Kai knew of his role in the escape of the young Jedi, they did not let it be known.

During the short period of time during which the Shadow Academy was conducting operations in the Coruscant system Qorl would be put in command of a raid on the New Republic bulk cruiser Adamant. Save for the minimal casualties that were inflicted upon the stormtrooper squad that Qorl had commanded, the operation was flawless.

During the raid, Qorl would grapple with Admiral Ackbar, whom he knocked unconscious thanks to his prosthetic arm. Though he was victorious, Qorl could not stomach the idea of killing unconscious enemies, so he had the bridge crew of the Adamant put into an escape pod. The Adamant would jump into hyperspace and then later dock with the Shadow Academy, where the weapons and equipment would be unloaded and used to build the Second Imperium's fleet.

Qorl's tenure with the Second Imperium ended dramatically when, during a battle over Yavin 4, he was once again shot down to the moon below. Once again presumed dead by the Second Imperium, he was content to live out the rest of the rest of his life in solitary quiet. The Solo twins and Luke Skywalker found out about the harmless hermit's whereabouts. Nevertheless, they let him live peacefully in the forests of Yavin. From time to time, the pilot Peckhum would provide Qorl with the most necessary supplies, though in 24 ABY Qorl thanked Peckhum for his services and asked him not to come back.

The Yuuzhan Vong War
"You won't give Qorl any trouble."

- Qorl to Remis Vehn

And yet, it seemed that Qorl's path was inexorably intertwined with those of the Solo children. In 26 ABY, in the midst of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Peace Brigade learned of the location of Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum and (desiring to collect on the galaxy-wide bounty on Jedi called for by Tsavong Lah) attacked the Jedi training site. After the initial attack by the Peace Brigadiers, Anakin Solo managed to escape the training grounds in a stolen freighter along with Valin Horn, Sannah, and the hostage Brigadier pilot Remis Vehn. The freighter, however, crashed deeper into the jungle, and Anakin began to lead a salvage mission to repair the ship so they could flee the planet.

The next morning Anakin was jarred awake by a bedraggled old man who introduced himself to the youngest Solo as Qorl. Anakin instantly recognized the old Imperial pilot from stories his old siblings had told him. Anakin took to Qorl immediately and put him in charge of watching Vehn, as well as coordinating the repair of the freighter, while Anakin set out to rescue Tahiri Veila from her captivity by the Yuuzhan Vong on the moon. Qorl and Remis quickly became friends.

After Anakin had rescued Tahiri, the two were evacuated from the Shapers' base by Qorl in the repaired Peace Brigade frigate. Though the flight away from Yavin was perilous, the group managed to flee from the grasp of the Yuuzhan Vong forces on the moon.

Behind the scenes
Qorl was created by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. One popular theory suggests that he may have been the Imperial pilot who had appeared much earlier in The Day after the Death Star. It is worth noting that the pilot in that story succeded in making repairs to his fighter, and that he actually crashed the day after Qorl did.

Qorl's designation "CE3K-1977," is likely a reference to Steven Spielberg's movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. CE3K is an acronym of the title and 1977 was the year that the movie was released.

Appearances

 * Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force
 * Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy
 * Young Jedi Knights: The Lost Ones
 * ''Young Jedi Knights: Lightsabers
 * Young Jedi Knights: Darkest Knight
 * Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Under Siege
 * Young Jedi Knights: Shards of Alderaan
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest