Corona Squadron

Corona Squadron was a starfighter squadron that served the Alliance to Restore the Republic and later the New Republic. It was designated for reconnaissance duty but also served in the Battle of Hoth and the Battle of Endor. The squadron flew X-wing starfighters.

History
During the early years of the Galactic Civil War, Corona squadron included Corona Leader (The Contessa), Corona Two (Yendor), Corona Three (Smikes), Corona Four (Thane Kyrell), and Corona Five (Kendy Idele). They were a ragtag group that came together from across the galaxy with vastly different backgrounds.

Battle of Hoth
"Haul your Jelucani ass up here! We've got multiple Imperial walkers marching in."

- Yendor to Kyrell

Corona Squadron was stationed on the Ice planet of Hoth when the Galactic Empire discovered the location of the hidden rebel base there. When the Imperial fleet arrived on Hoth sooner than was expected, the job of Corona Squadron was to delay the oncoming army until the rebel transports could escape the planet. Two members of Corona Squadron, Thane Kyrell and Yendor, piloted a snowspeeder together and managed to take down an Imperial AT-AT on their own by shooting at its joints, where walkers were most vulnerable. Once the transports had taken off, the squadron took their X-wings into space, where they rendezvoused with the rest of the rebel fleet.

Reconnaissance
"All we have now is the element of surprise. Let's take the fight to them."

- Corona Leader to Corona Squadron

After the Battle of Hoth, they were personally thanked for their service by Mon Mothma, the leader of the Rebel Alliance. She then gave them a special mission&mdash;to do reconnaissance for the Rebel Alliance&mdash;in which they were to be based on the Liberty. In the coming months, they did many intelligence missions, including one on D'Qar, where they found nothing noteworthy, but decided that it could be a possible future location for a rebel base. Many reports from their spies were received of the Imperial fleet moving large quantities of raw material, though they couldn't discern its destination. They were later informed of a large gathering of ships in the Hudalla system, and were sent to investigate. While there, they found a large fleet of Imperial ships and learned of the construction of the Second Death Star. Despite hiding in the rings of the planet in low power mode, they were detected by the Imperial fleet and a squadron of four TIE fighters was sent to root them out. In the battle, Smikes was shot down before the X-wings could escape.

Battle of Endor
"I'm going in close on the engines, who's with me?" "Corona Four, right behind you." "Corona Five, too. Let's do it!"

- Corona Leader to Corona Squadron

After the discovery of the Second Death Star, Corona Squadron was assigned to cover the starfighters of the Gold, Red, Green, and Gray squadrons, as they penetrated the Death Star. Due to Endor's shields being up when they pulled out of hyperspace, they were forced to face off with a large number of TIE fighters and Imperial Star Destroyers. On orders from Gold Leader in the Millennium Falcon, they moved in close to the Star Destroyers, working as a team and successfully disabling the engines of the Subjugator. When the shields surrounding the Second Death Star fell, they protected the other squadrons, as they made their entry into the Death Star. By the conclusion of the battle, the squadron had suffered no casualties.

Post-Endor
"...Corona Squadron? Anyone? Has anyone seen..."

- A rebel after the Battle of Endor

After surviving starfighters landed on Home One, a rebel was asking about the squadron's status.

Corona Squadron went on to serve the New Republic after the Battle of Endor, but their composition had changed. The Contessa had left the squadron to run for presidency on her homeworld, resulting in Yendor becoming the new Corona Leader. They also acquired two new members, one from Coruscant and the other from Nea Dajanam. As the Empire sought to regain control of Naboo, the squadron fought on the planet in several separate battles.

Two decades later, Yendor had become the ambassador from his homeworld of Ryloth to the Republic, and Senator Leia Organa mentioned meeting the squadron to him during her investigation on the planet.

Appearances

 * Lost Stars
 * Shattered Empire, Part I
 * Bloodline