Ambush at Corellia

Ambush at Corellia is a Star Wars Legends novel written by Roger MacBride Allen. It is the first volume of Star Wars: The Corellian Trilogy, and it was first published on February 2, 1995 by Bantam Spectra. A sequel, Assault at Selonia, was published later that year.

Publisher's summary

A trade summit on Corellia brings Han Solo back to the home world he left many years before. Arriving on the distant planet with Leia, their children, and Chewbacca, Han finds Corellia overrun with agents of the New Republic Intelligence and finds himself part of a deceptive plan whose aim not even he understands. One thing is clear: the five inhabited worlds of the sector are on the brink of civil war and the once peaceful co-existence of the three leading races—human, Selonian, and Drallan—has come to an end.

Suddenly all that Han, Leia, and others of the Alliance have fought for is threatened. As jammerships block all communication with Luke Skywalker and the outside universe, Han and Leia find themselves trapped on a world about to explode in violence unless they can meet a fanatical Rebel leader's impossible demands....

Plot summary

In 18 ABY, Leia Organa Solo is chosen to spearhead the Coruscant delegation at a trade summit on Corellia, the homeworld of her husband, Han Solo. Han decides to bring his children, Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin, along. As Han prepares the Millennium Falcon, he is approached by New Republic Intelligence (NRI) operative Lieutenant Belindi Kalenda, who warns him that six previous NRI operatives had been dispatched to Corellia to assess its political climate and had not been heard from since. She requests that Han acts suspiciously during his visit to distract whoever may be working against them. After Kalenda leaves, Han and Chewbacca destroy a probe droid which had been listening in on their conversation. Unbeknownst to Han, the droid was dispatched by Pharnis Gleasry, an agent of the Human League, who was working a mission for an elusive figure known only as the Hidden Leader. Gleasry's primary mission is to deliver an encoded message to Luke Skywalker.

Meanwhile, Skywalker is assigned a mission by Mon Mothma. He is told to meet Lando Calrissian and travel with him on his quest to find a wife. Kalenda makes her way back to Corellia ahead of the Solo family, undercover as a lower-class trader with engine troubles. Her entry to the system is immediately greeted by hostile fire from a Pocket Patrol Boat (PPB), indicating that the NRI has been compromised. She crashes into the sea and swims to shore.

Skywalker sees the Solo family off and meets Calrissian in his newly-constructed Dometown, his latest project. Calrissian shows Skywalker a list of potential wives. They set off to meet the first candidate, which forces Gleasry, who had assumed that Skywalker would be traveling to Corellia, to use an alternative delivery method for his encoded message. Calrissian's first attempt at finding a partner nearly ends in death, when his potential suitor winds up being a life-witch.

When the Solos arrive at Corellia, they are fired on by a trio of Uglies, which are then destroyed by a group of PPBs manned by the Corellian Defense Force. Han concludes that it had been a staged attack and rescue, meant to get Han to trust the CDF. He plays along with the ruse.

Gleasry, needing a new courier after Skywalker's departure, chooses Mara Jade, who is en route to the same Corellian trade summit. The Solo family, then on-planet, settles into a villa. They are discretely observed from an adjacent building by Kalenda, who has made it her mission to oversee the Chief of State's safety. Leia hires a Drall tutor named Ebrihim to educate the children on Corellia's history, while Han visits the capital city of Coronet. His findings are grim: the city is dilapidated and empty, save for a parade of drunk Human League members who knock him out and imprison. The Hidden Leader orders his release, issuing a vague warning to the rest of the family.

The following evening, Han and Leia meet with Corellia's New Republic–appointed Governor-General, Micamberlecto. The Frozian explains that he was largely ignored by the native populations of Corellia, as the absence of a tyrannical Empire had left them without the obligation to obey. Furthermore, the three primary races (the Drall, Selonians, and Humans) were forming various alliances and enemies on the Five Brothers and made factions difficult to discern.

The Solo family plays sightseers for a while, waiting for the tipping point, and Ebrihim takes them to a vast archaeological dig manned by a staff bearing similar uniforms to the Human League. The dig is allegedly for the purpose of uncovering historical artifacts, but the cover story is thin. During a guided tour, Anakin, using his Force-sensitivity, sneaks away from the group, and is followed by his siblings. They find a secret pyramidal chamber, as of yet undiscovered by the diggers. The three children cover the vault entrance back up and rejoin their parents without telling them of their discovery. Han ushers his family ahead to Corona House, Micamberlecto's residence and site of the upcoming summit. He doubles back to the villa and weeds out Kalenda, whom he had discovered was spying on them. He brings her food and instructs her to be on call for any potential trouble.

Meanwhile, Calrissian's next suitor leads him to Sacorria, an outlier world of the Corellian sector. He likes the new woman, Tendra Risant, enough to set up a future rendezvous with her before he and Skywalker are abruptly kicked off-planet by the local government. Calrissian considers his search concluded, so they start to make their way toward Corellia to meet up with the Solos.

On the night of the trade summit at Corona House, everything comes to a head. Jade arrives with the encoded message, addressed to Leia. It is from the Hidden Leader, informing them that if his future demands are not met, he would begin to trigger supernova explosions within a number of stars in the Corellian system. Included are coordinates for those specific stars and the last on the list is Corell itself. The message is deemed credible since the first star on the list already had gone nova sixteen days prior. Hours after the message was decoded, uprisings all over the system begin simultaneously. Corona House is attacked, and in the ensuing carnage, Han escapes to assist Kalenda in getting off-planet to deliver a distress message back to Coruscant. She steals a ship, but Han is captured. Chewbacca grabs the kids and flies the Falcon away in the company of Ebrihim, but his hyperdrive is damaged in the escape. They decide to attempt to reach Drall at sublight speeds. Leia alone remains trapped in Corona House, awaiting demands.

The following morning, the Hidden Leader makes his first public appearance on holovid, revealing himself to be Thrackan Sal-Solo, Han's sadistic cousin. He declares secession from the New Republic and demands deportation of all non-human species from Corellia. Skywalker and Calrissian are abruptly yanked out of hyperspace at the edges of the Corellian system by an unprecedented interdiction field. The field prevents any rescue attempts from outside forces, so they immediately turn around and start the journey back to Coruscant to get help.

Continuity

In Ambush at Corellia, Q9-X2 is described as having black plating; however, later illustrations have depicted the character with white and red plating.

Reception

Ambush at Corellia spent six weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

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