Ania Solo is charged with the murder of an Imperial Knight! Now she's a wanted criminal, and even her pals Sauk and Imperial Knight Jao Assam are wary. Before Ania can explain, their ship is compromised, the friends are separated, and Ania is captured by one bounty hunter, while another is in pursuit! Collects Star Wars: Legacy #11–#15.
- Star Wars—140 years after A New Hope!
This comic arc is set in 139 ABY, one year following the defeat of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire and the emergence of a new galactic government, the Galactic Federation Triumvirate. Underground One Sith infiltrators still pose a threat to the galaxy and seek to restore their former Empire. In the midst of this, a rogue Sith named Darth Wredd has launched an insurgency against the One Sith, seeking to restore the Rule of Two. Following the liberation of the Mon Calamari Orbital Shipyards, the junk dealer Ania Solo, the Imperial Knight Jao Assam, the Mon Calamari engineer Sauk, and the former assassin droid AG-37 resume their hunt for Darth Wredd. Jao had foreseen in a Force vision that Wredd posed a threat to Galactic Empress Marasiah Fel. The four companions travel on AG-37's freighter.
Several traders and junk dealers arrive at Ania Solo's abandoned junkyard on Carreras Minor's moon to collect overdue debts. However, they are instead ambushed by a mysterious masked bounty hunter, who is hunting for Ania Solo. She then proceeds to murder the visitors with her laser whip. After navigating a minefield, Ania and her companions land at Lasgo Port to deliver goods to a customer. In an attempt to earn some extra credits, Ania attempts to tame a yarthul, a large quadruped beast native to the planet. Unfortunately, Ania does not succeed and loses her comlink as collateral. While walking through Lasgo Port, Ania and her companions discover Ania is wanted for the murder of an Imperial Knight named Teemen Alton. When confronted, Ania vehemently denies murdering the Knight and insists that Jao Assam was the first Imperial Knight that she ever met. Jao is suspicious of Ania since she was hiding in the remote Carreras system around the time of the alleged murder.
While traveling through the minefield, their starship's fuel injection bay is dented by some asteroid debris. The ship crew send their Imperial communications droid to fix the damage. While repairing the fuel bay, the communications droid discovers a damaged starship nearby with its crew alive but in distress. AG-37's freighter docks with the damaged starship and Ania's companions make contact with the crew. Ania also encounters her former love interest Ramid, who claims that his ship's net isolator was damaged by a mine causing the ship's shield systems to break down. With their shields inoperative, the starship is unable to travel through space. While Ania reunites with Ramid, her companions return to AG-37's freighter to get tools and spareparts. However, this is all a ruse.
Once Ania is separated from her companions, Ramid and his crew take her captive. Ramid's starship then activates its engines and opens fire on AG-37 freighter, attempting to blow it up in the minefields. Jao narrowly saves their starship from destruction. However, Ramid and his crew take advantage of the explosion to make a jump into hyperspace, taking the captive Ania with them. Ania's companions receive a response signal from her comlink, which they trace to Port Lasgo. Since Ania had lost her comlink as collateral during her failed attempt to tame a yarthul, Sauk is skeptical that it is actually her. Knowing that Ramid's starship had made a cold jump into hyperspace, Sauk deduced that they could have gotten no further than two star systems before their fuel ran out.
On Ramid's starship, Ania attempts to break free of her captors but is overpowered. Ramid reveals his reasons for kidnapping her. He is still bitter towards Ania for leaving him behind during their escape from a prison camp and as revenge plans to collect the Imperial bounty on her. Ania denies killing the Imperial Knight but Ramid refuses to listen. Short on fuel, Ramid and his crew decide to land on the fourth world of an unnamed star system, which is home to a small outpost. This planet is an inhospitable planet with clouds that contain acidic vapor and which rains molten silica or shards of glass. Meanwhile on Coruscant, Master Yalta Val is suspicious of the Empress Fel's decision to terminate the quest for Darth Wredd and to instead hunt down wanted individuals like Ania Solo. He confronts Antares Draco over the bounty on Ania Solo for the alleged murder of the Imperial Knight Teemen Alton. Drado defends the bounty by asserting that the Imperial Knights want to send a clear message that they would not tolerate any crimes committed against them, past or present.
Back in hyperspace, Jao Assam delves into Ania Solo's past and turns to her closest companions, Sauk and AG-37 to gain a better understanding of Ania. Sauk vouches for Ania's character, stressing that she is not a murderer or Sith. He recalled how Ania vouched for him when he was homeless on Carreras Minor and helped secure a roof and a meal for him even though he was a stranger. AG-37 similarly recalls his first encounter with Ania on the planet Drash-so in the Selvatas system near the end of the Second Imperial Civil War. He explains that Ania was a former prisoner of an Imperial concentration camp and she was a descendant of Han Solo. He had provided her with transport offworld and helped her to escape from her prison in order to honor a promise which he made her to ancestor Han Solo, many decades ago. Given that Ania first pulled a gun on AG-37, Jao is suspicious of Ania and desires justice for the slain Teemen Alton. Following a lengthy discussion, Jao, Sauk and AG-37 agree that they must find her first in order to learn the truth. They then decide to head to the same remote world which Ramid's ship was traveling to.
Meanwhile, Ramid's starship comes under attack from a TIE bomber, which is being piloted by the mysterious bounty hunter who is hunting Ania. Following the death of Ramid's pilot, Ramid releases Ania from her cell and forces her to fly their starship to safety. Despite much difficulty, Ania manages to land the starship on the unknown planet in one piece. However, the remaining crew and passengers apart from Ramid and Ania are killed during the landing. Upon landing, the mysterious bounty hunter issues an ultimatum for Ania to surrender herself or be destroyed with the starship. After sending a medical droid to treat the wounded Ramid, Ania confronts the bounty hunter and temporarily incapacitates her with a blast to her helmet. Ania then takes the opportunity to escape into the wilds of that planet.
Still suspicious of the Triumvirate's motives for placing a bounty on Ania Solo, Master Yalta Val confronts Empress Fel. The Empress is defensive and reacts with anger, stressing the need to bring justice for Teemen Alton. Questioning Ania's guilt, Val visits an archive containing materials related to the Second Imperial Civil War. After examining files relating to the Alton murder case, Val discovers that the murderer had a prosthetic arm while Ania Solo is fully biological. Based on these facts, Val deduces that Ania Solo is innocent. Following an encounter with giant insects at a ruined temple, Ania is captured by the mysterious bounty hunter. The bounty hunter takes Ania back to her waiting TIE bomber. However, Ania is rescued by her former lover Ramid who knocks the bounty hunter unconscious with his speeder bike. While still distrustful of Ramid, Ania accepts his offer for help since he is the only "friend" on a remote and dangerous world.
Arriving on the unknown remote world, Jao, Sauk and AG-37 find Ramid's wrecked starship but no sign of Ania. They are forced to seek shelter when the skies begin to rain glass. The droid AG-37 resumes the hunt for Ania Solo since his mechanical body is unaffected by the raining shards of glass. While sheltering under Ramid's speeder bike, Ania and Ramid reconcile their differences. They talked about their time in the Imperial prison camp and Ramid finally forgives Ania for leaving him behind during their escape attempt and apologizes for the kidnapping attempt. Meanwhile, Sauk and Jao receive a holographic message from Master Yalta Val, who explained that Teemen Alton's murderer had a prosthetic hand. This clears Ania of the crime of killing Alton. After the glass storm ends, Ania and Ramid enter a settlement in order to use its comm array to make their way offworld.
Meanwhile, AG-37 spots Ania and Ramid and alerts Sauk and Jao, who fly their freighter to the settlement. Meanwhile, Ania and Ramid quickly discover that the settlement's inhabitants had been killed by the same mysterious bounty hunter who is hunting Ania. The bounty hunter then attacks Ania and Ramid with her lightsaber whip. During the ensuing struggle, Ramid damages the bounty hunter's prosthetic hand but is killed by the assailant, who breaks his neck. By that time, Jao Assam arrives and fights the bounty hunter with his lightsaber. The bounty hunter appears to gain the advantage over Jao by igniting a thermal detonator, throwing him outside of the building. Ania escapes outside only to enter an acid rain storm. In desperation, she pulls her jacket over her head. However, Ania is rescued by AG-37 who carries her to shelter under a cave. Due to damage to his internal systems caused by the acid rain, Ania is forced to shut him down.
Shortly later, Ania is recaptured by the bounty hunter, who quickly incapacitates her and binds her left hand to a restraint. She then introduces herself as a former Imperial prison guard from Ania's prison camp. As revenge for her escape, the bounty hunter intends to sever Ania's left hand to implant her prosthetic hand on Ania in order to frame her for the murder of Teemen Alton. The bounty hunter also revealed that she had assumed Ania's identity following her escape and that she was the real murderer of Teemen Alton. At that point, the bounty hunter was attacked by Jao Assam, who had survived the explosion. Using her laser whip, the bounty hunter gained the advantage over the Imperial Knight. However, Ania managed to break free of her restraints and shoot the bounty's prosthetic hand off with a blaster. Before the bounty hunter could kill her, Ania's used the former's remote to summon her TIE bomber to crush her, killing the bounty hunter.
However, Ania Solo's troubles were still not over. An Imperial shuttle had landed nearby and disembarked a force of Trandoshan stormtroopers with orders to arrest Ania for the alleged murder of Teemen Alton. Jao and Sauk were unable to stop them and could only watch as the Imperials apprehended Ania. On Coruscant, Ania Solo was brought before a military tribunal, that consisted of three officials—the Imperial Knight Antares Draco, a Sullustan Galactic Alliance official, and a female Human Jedi. Knowing the facts about the Teemen Alton case, Master Yalta Val volunteered to represent Ania during the court proceedings. He defended Ania, pointing out that the evidence was circumstantial and stressing Ania's recent actions to save members of the Order.
Representing the prosecution, Antares Draco stressed Ania's guilt and demanded a swift resolution to the case. Yalta Val was able to weaken the prosecution's case by pointing out that Teemen's murderer had a prosthetic hand and that Ania had two biological hands. He added that Alton was strangled by a laser whip that could only be operated by a matching prosthetic hand. Val's evidence managed to sway the Galactic Alliance and Jedi members of the tribunal but Antares Draco remained unswayed and demanded more evidence. However, Ania Solo was saved by the arrival of Jao Assam who presented the bounty hunter's severed prosthetic hand. He explained to the tribunal that the artificial hand belonged to Teemen's real murderer and that this person had tried to frame Ania for a crime that she did not commit. Faced with compelling evidence, the tribunal was forced to find Ania not guilty and to release her.
Following her acquittal, Ania was reunited with her companions Sauk, AG-37 and their Imperial communications droid. Ania admitted that she had been sent to the prison camp for murdering a malevolent individual. However, this good news was shattered by news that Jao Assam had been arrested and imprisoned for deserting the Imperial Knights, a crime that carried the death penalty. Despite clearing Ania's name, Yalta Val explained that by returning to Coruscant, Jao had effectively given himself up. While in prison, Jao Assam was visited by the elusive Darth Wredd himself, who sensed the former's despondency at being untreated unfairly. Darth Wredd offered to help Jao escape from prison by handing him a Sith lightsaber through the bars of his cell.
- ISBN 9781616553814; August 26, 2014; Dark Horse Books; US paperback