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."
 * &mdash;Qorl

Qorl was a former TIE fighter pilot who was downed not once, but twice over Yavin 4. He played several important roles in the adventures of the Solo children both on Yavin’s fourth moon and off.

Imperial service
Qorl was a TIE fighter pilot serving in the Imperial forces assigned to the first Death Star. According to the account he gave to Jacen and Jaina Solo in 22 ABY, his designation was CE3K-1977; when one of the solar pannels of his TIE fighter was badly damaged in the dogfight, his controllers instructed him to make an emergency landing on Yavin 4 and await rescue: shortly after his crash-landing, however, he saw the Death Star explode in the sky.

This account contains a number of problems. Most notably, Qorl claimed that all the Death Star's fighter squadrons were launched against the Rebels, when in fact, the only Imperial fighter unit deployed against the Alliance snubfighters during the battle was Darth Vader's elite escort unit, Black Squadron. Additionally, it might be questioned whether flight controlers would direct a pilot to land on Yavin 4 when it was the Death Star's target, or whether the explosion of the Death Star, which took place just after the battle station had cleared the horizon of the gas-giant Yavin, would have been visible from the surface.

With regards to Qorl's identity, it should also be noted that on the morning after the Battle of Yavin, Luke Skywalker's X-wing encountered a surviving TIE Fighter from the Death Star, with a battle-damaged port steering rocket. After a brief dogfight, Luke rammed the TIE's left-hand solar panel - where Qorl's ship later exhibited its worst damage - and both ships crash-landed in the jungle on Yavin 4; this may have also been the TIE crash which killed Rebel naturalist Dr'uun Unnh.

After extricating themselves from their downed planes, Luke and the pilot battled in the jungle, but in the end, the young Rebel found that he was unable to kill the Imperial, and simply left him there when he was rescued himself.

Taking all the evidence into account, it seems most likely that Qorl was a pilot from Black Eight, whose TIE survived the battle with minor damage, only to be brought down the next day by Luke. If so, it remains uncertain why he lied about his role in the battle - but it may be that after decades in the jungle, his memories had been reshaped by his mantra-like adherence to his Imperial conditioning; alternatively, he might have scouted the Jedi Academy and recognized its leader as the Rebel pilot he had fought twenty years earlier, or he could have learned of Luke's role at Yavin by eavesdropping on the Jedi trainees' conversation.

Despite his injuries - including serious damage to his left arm - Qorl managed to survive for in the moon’s jungles, obeying his last orders to remain near the crash and await rescue.

Second Imperium
After over twenty years of solitude in the jungles, in 22 ABY, Qorl’s downed TIE fighter was stumbled upon by Jacen and Jaina Solo. Jaina reveled at the opportunity to dabble in mechanics and intended to install a new hyperdrive into the damaged starfighter.

Qorl discovered the Solo Twins working on his craft and saw an opportunity to escape. He immediately kidnapped them at blaster-point and forced them to finish the repairs. All the while as he held the twins captive, Qorl learned from them of the events of the last twenty three years, and especially of the downfall of the Empire at Endor many years prior.

When the repairs were complete, Qorl left Yavin IV in search of any remnants of the Imperial hierarchy to report to. What he found was the Shadow Academy and the Dark Jedi Brakiss and Tamith Kai. Qorl informed the two of the existence of the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin, which led to the Solo twins and several other students of Luke Skywalker’s being captured by the Dark Jedi of the Shadow Academy.

During this time Qorl joined the forces of the Second Imperium. He participated in an attack on the New Republic cruiser Adamant, which he captured and turned over the valuable cargo (replete with hyperdrive cores, turbolasers, and other military equipment) to the Imperium. During his service he was injured badly and had to have several wounds repaired with cybernetic implants, including his entire left arm.

Qorl’s tenure with the Second Imperium ended dramatically when, during a battle over Yavin IV, he was once again shot down to the moon below. Once again presumed dead, he was content to live out the rest of the rest of his life in solitary quiet.

Yuuzhan Vong War
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 invasion, 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 Brigaders, Anakin Solo managed to escape the training grounds in a stolen freighter along with Valin Horn, Sannah, and the hostage Brigader 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 from her captivity by the Vong on the moon.

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, although he may have been meant from the outset to be identified as the Imperial pilot who had appeared much earlier in The Day After the Death Star. This comic strip by Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino originally appeared in January 1980 in Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly #97-99; it was reprinted in 1981's Star Wars: Marvel Illustrated Book #1; a version is available online here.

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. The reference is of course appropriate to the Solo twins' "close encounter" with Qorl - who in terms of his psychology and attitudes, is utterly alien to them.

Appearances

 * Young Jedi Knights: The Rise of the Shadow Academy
 * New Jedi Order series: Edge of Victory I: Conquest