Off the Rails (comic)

On the planet Tyegin, a high-stake card game is taking place in the lead car of the Exas Jewell, a luxury train on its maiden voyage. One of the players is none other than the con-man Lando Calrissian, posing as the train's designer, Shen Kanton. The others are D'Lina, a bird-like female, Prince Baj, a young human royal, and Rakan, a large reptilian humanoid.

After scoring a big win at the game table, Calrissian plans to leave the Exas Jewel before anyone figures out who he really is. However, the other players start to see through his scheme, because Kenton, as the designer of the train, was supposed to ride to the end of the line and host a grand reception. The smuggler attempts to smooth-talk his way out of the situation, but the conversation is interrupted by a sudden explosion at the front of the car they're in.

Coming through a blasted doorway are Zira, a female Feeorin pirate, and her human partner Grillo, who have come to rob the wealthy passengers. A third pirate, a human called Shelvy, brings the train's Tarsunt engineer into the car at gunpoint. Zira has Grillo destroy the Exas Jewels controls so it accelerates and eventually go off the rails, while she and her goons escape the speeding vehicle with their jetpacks and stolen riches. Although the Feeorin offers Calrissian to come with them, Calrissian refuses.

Once the pirates are gone, the cards players and the engineer all turn to Calrissian for leadership, still believing he designed the train. At the engineer's suggestion, they decide to try and unhook the engine to at least buy some time. On the small platform that covers the coupling joint between the engine and the first car, the card player Rakan manages to pull out the connector pin. The engine pulls away from the other cars, leaving them behind, but the trailing cars are still going really fast.

Back inside the players' car, Calrissian takes charge, ordering the others to grab whatever furniture or ornaments they can and carry it all toward the car's open front end in order to disrupt its magnetic field. They comply, and young Prince Baj even attempts to dump the car's dealer droid, until Calrissian tells him otherwise. The considerable amount of junk clogging up underneath the front of the car ends up creating enough drag to slow it down as Calrissian, Rakan, and Baj are standing in the blasted out doorway, looking down at the rail. Although the lead car has slowed considerably, the big dining car is still coming up fast, and it slams into the back of it. The impact sends the prince flying forward and out of the car, but Calrissian grabbed his arm just in time, saving his life.

Some time later, in the evening, the Exas Jewel has finally stopped for good, and a few emergency response ships have landed close by. Emergency medical technicians are there, taking care of the passengers. Although Calrissian is elated to have survived, the bird woman D'Lina looks sour. She ends up revealing that Shen Kanton, the designer of the Exas Jewel, is in fact her son, and so she knew that Calrissian was an impostor all along. Nevertheless, because he has shown courage and saved everyone, she chooses not to report him to the authorities. As D'Lina takes her leave, she gives the con-man one last piece of advice: start making better choices with your life.

• Star Wars Rebels TPB