Aria Reilly

Aria Reilly is the commander of Squadron 42 and the captain of UEES Caspian. She is also a well-known Hornet pilot in UEE.

History
Outside of Cal Mason and Selon McClintock, no other pilot is as synonymous with Squadron 42 than Aria Reilly. Interestingly, Reilly was one of the few who not only served as a combat pilot in the renowned squadron for eight years, but as their commanding officer when she was promoted to captain the carrier, UEES Caspian.

During Aria's early tours as a combat pilot, she obsessively tested all of the ships that she was assigned, meticulously testing various loadouts and configurations to push the limits of the ship. For one reason or another, all the ships would ultimately fail her rigorous series of tests… until she tackled the Anvil Hornet. "There wasn't a scenario or loadout that I could put the Hornet through that it couldn't find its way out of. Like the damn ship was doomed to succeed," she recalled in an interview. Needless to say, Aria Reilly's F7C Hornet Wildfire became her mainstay ship and her default configuration (swapping energy cannons for ballistic repeaters and varying up her missile systems) became her 'all-purpose loadout,' capable of handling whatever situation met her in the field. Aria served in Squadron 42 for eight years, and she was promoted to the commanding officer of Squadron 42 and its carrier, UEES Caspian.