In a stunning turn of events, Han Solo needs credits. Weird, huh? When an offer comes in to raid a Black Sun vault, Han has to gather a team…but will this be his last heist? Join our Legendary Adventure as we review Scoundrels!
The Death Star has been destroyed. The Rebel Alliance exploited a weakness in the dreaded battle station’s design in order to destroy the whole project with a pair of ion torpedoes. Novice Rebel pilot Luke Skywalker delivered the payload that ended up destroying the station, but it’s not like he was alone. No, grizzled and weary smuggler, pilot, and con-artist extraordinaire Han Solo, and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, were actually the reason that Luke could get that shot off. You see, thanks to some daring flying on the part of our favorite Corellian, the Tatooine native was free to focus on firing his one-in-a-million shot to destroy the station as Han and Chewbacca took care of the Imperial leader Darth Vader.
Or, at least, that’s the story he’s telling.
Despite his long history of freeing slaves, taking on the Corporate Sector Authority, and dealing with Imperial wizardry and demonic forces, Han Solo and Chewbacca have fallen on hard times. Such hard times, in fact, that they are gullible enough to help the Rebel Alliance again, despite what Bria Tharen has done to them last time the pair helped the Rebels. Thankfully, the Alliance paid the pair handsomely. So much, in fact, that they could pay off their debt to Jabba the Hutt! Until the pirate Crimson Jack was able to take every single credit that they were given.
At this point in Han’s story, he’s still not entirely committed to the Rebellion. His bad deal with Bria wasn’t really all that long ago, so there’s a chance that someone in the Alliance might still be looking to use him for their own goals. He is also a lot more committed to solving his debt with Jabba than he is freeing the galaxy, so a lot of the Alliance activity would be more a distraction than a help to him. Really, he only helped Luke at the Battle of Yavin because he started to like Luke, and not necessarily the cause. In light of this, the two still act as free agents, kind of roaming the galaxy in search for their next job.
At a cantina on Wukkar, Han and Chewbacca are commissioned to help a slicer known as Eanjer Kunarazti, who tells them a local warlord, named Avrak Villachor, has murdered Eanjer’s father and stolen 163 million credits from him. Han assembles a team, with two stand outs: First, Winter, a woman with a nearly perfect memory. During the heist, she seems overly relieved to learn that Princess Leia survived the destruction of Alderaan. She makes no further comment, but it seems like she is more relieved than most would be to learn that an important figure is still alive. (The book does not mention her history with Leia, but we see early hints that she has a bigger connection to the Galaxy, which will be unpacked as she and Leia reconnect later and we learn her heritage – and surprising connection to Leia!) Second, Lando Calrissian comes along for the ride, despite the falling out that he and Han had after the job with Bria had gone so downhill.
Word gets out that a VIP has been staying at a local hotel and transporting back and forth, secretly, to Villachor’s estate. This VIP is a Falleen named Aziel, who, under the direction of Black Sun Vigo Qazadi, is working with Villachor to strengthen Black Sun’s holdings. Villachor is nervous, though, and he does not interpret the Falleen’s visit as a good sign. Even though the Black Sun syndicate enjoyed a good relationship with the Empire for a while, something caused a minor falling out between the two parties. It seems like the Empire’s loss at the Battle of Yavin is catastrophic on more levels than we might have originally thought. Despite the good relationship that the Empire and Black Sun share between the rise of the Empire and the Battle of Yavin, this relationship seems to be a little strained now. The relationship doesn’t seem to have broken down entirely, but the Empire seems to worry now that some traitorous Imperial officers might ally themselves with Black Sun to gain a personal boost rather than working for the good of the Empire In fact, as Han’s team soon find out, both Aziel and Villachor hold knowledge vital to the survival of the criminal group, and both would use those secrets to any end in order to protect their own lives.
Han, Lando, Chewbacca, and the rest of the team infiltrate Villachor’s office, making themselves known as friends to Villachor’s staff. The team deftly enters Villachor’s home, planning on making very big and spectacular moves against him. (Subtlety is no one on the team’s middle name.) While Villachor knows he is being targeted, he does not think that the culpit is the new team of employees who recently joined in his house. Rather, he interprets the visit from Black Sun operatives as a test, thinking Black Sun believes he is wavering in his devotion to the syndicate and that these disruptions are part of their process. In light of this, he begins to make plans to sell out the Syndicate to the Empire, hoping to find some leniency there.
Near the onset of the operation, Han comes into contact with a cryodex, an un-hackable Alderaanian device, a highly sophisticated encryption service. This cryodex holds valuable information to the Rebellion, making it a highly desirable item to everybody in the party. As the Black Sun operatives turn on Villachor after finding out about his planned betrayal, Han and his team area able to take this information back to the ship. Waiting at the ship is Eanjer, who isn’t quite all he seems to be. In fact, the real Eanjer has been dead for weeks: this impostor who summons Han Solo to the mission is none other than Boba Fett!
Boba Fett had his own convoluted mission during this entire novel. The true Eanjer had been killed by Black Sun operatives, and Boba, ever the opportunist, takes advantage of the situation to gain some credits of his own. Boba, as Eanjer, hires Han and his team to steal back the credits Villachor has stolen. This serves as a cover for Boba’s own mission, to kill Black Sun operative Qazadi. Apparently, tensions between Han and Boba had cooled, despite Boba’s ongoing mission from the t’landa Til to capture Han and bring him to justice. During Han’s heist, Boba, disguised as Eanjer, is able to kill Qazadi, and tries to take back all of the stolen credits.
Because Han knew something was going on, he was able to save some sort of monetary reward for his crew from Boba. (Lando, on the other hand, is bamboozled again by Han, and leaves the mission with no credits and no information, causing the rift between the men to grow even wider than it was before.) Han trades his portion of the loot for the cryodex, making sure that he holds onto the information that is so vital to the Rebellion, signaling, perhaps, a shift in his allegiance to the Rebel Alliance.
So, Han plans to bring the information back to the Rebels, just in time to join a mission to Shelkonwa, where a new Rebel base might be able to flourish…if the Emperor’s Hand doesn’t stop it in the meantime.
Legendary Travel Tips:
-The novel is preceded by a short story called “Winner Lose All”, a short story collected in the paperback edition of this book. It is followed by Allegiance, which starts this column down a series of Zahn novels. This novel and the next two are written by Zahn, but this one is not a part of a series – the timeline “happened” to fall this way!
-The novel introduces Winter, who becomes a major player in the post-Endor Legends novels. Zahn will use these next three novels to introduce Legends characters far earlier in the timeline than their first introduction in the printing schedule.
Galactic Civil War Era: A New Hope