Han Solo at Stars' End

Han Solo, a captain of a trampfreighter, operated as a smuggler and bent the law when it suited his purposes. Accompanied by his Wookiee companion, Chewbacca, he traversed the galaxy aboard the starship Millennium Falcon, beholden to no one—be they human, 'droid, or otherwise. If the Authority disapproved of some of his actions, Han considered that to be solely their concern.

Or, at least, that's what Han Solo believed.

However, the Authority then mandated that he upgrade the Millennium Falcon to meet certain precise technical requirements. They referred to them as "safety standards," but Han suspected a hidden agenda.

He was also aware of a secure planet where Doc, a mechanic, repaired starships discreetly, turning a blind eye to any advanced jamming equipment one might discover on an old freighter.

Regrettably, Doc had vanished completely.

His daughter, Jessa, was prepared to undertake the necessary repairs on the Millennium Falcon. She was even willing to provide Han with the waiver that would shield his starship from investigators for an extended period. All that Han and Chewbacca needed to do was retrieve some undercover agents from the Authority Data Center on Orron III and then locate Jessa's father.

Han wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the proposition, but he had limited options. The only thing that made the mission tolerable was the anticipation of a prolonged period of freedom once this minor pick-up-and-delivery task was completed.

While concluding their business with a loan shark known as Ploovo Two-For-One, Han Solo and Chewbacca receive notice from the Security Police of the Corporate Sector Authority that the Millennium Falcon is prohibited from flying within Corporate Sector Authority airspace unless it is added to the Authority's Waivers List. They liberate the Falcon from impoundment and journey to a group of outlaw technicians led by a man named Doc, hoping to obtain a Waiver and repair some damage sustained by the Falcon during their last smuggling run. Upon landing at Sarlucif, the outlaw techs' base, they encounter Doc's daughter, Jessa, who is in charge in his absence.

Jessa informs Han that Doc has disappeared and that she is willing to provide him with what he seeks, despite knowing that Han is currently short on funds. They reach an agreement wherein Han and Chewbacca will extract certain individuals from the agriworld of Orron III in exchange for repairs, upgrades, and a Waiver for the Falcon. Given that Orron III also serves as a base for one of the Authority's Data Centers, the techs commence work on disguising the Falcon to allow it to enter without attracting the attention of the Authority.

However, before the work on the Falcon can be completed, the outlaw techs' base is attacked by four Authority IRD starfighters. Unable to depart before the Falcon's camouflage is finished, Han, along with Jessa and four other techs, engage the Authority starfighters in outdated Z-95 Headhunters. Han, Jessa, and the other pilots prevent the base from being destroyed, but they suffer the loss of three of their own, and the base sustains some damage during the dogfight.

The outlaw techs finalize their work on the Falcon, camouflaging it as part of a drone barge, and Han and Chewbacca depart for Orron III. The techs dispatch two droids with them to assist the passengers in infiltrating the Authority's data interfaces on Orron III. The first droid, Bollux, is an obsolete labor droid with a concealed compartment in his chest for the other droid, Blue Max. Blue Max is a cutting-edge but immobile computer probe who relies on Bollux for mobility.

They land on Orron III undetected and meet with Rekkon, one of their passengers and a leader of a group searching for loved ones who vanished after criticizing the Authority. Han, Chewbacca, and the droids accompany Rekkon to the Data Center to obtain the Waiver for the Falcon and to meet the other members of Rekkon's group. During the journey, Rekkon confides in Han that he has another reason for enlisting Han's help through Jessa: he suspects a traitor among the core members of his group and needs Han to identify them.

Upon reaching Rekkon's office at the Data Center, Rekkon provides Han with the Waiver and tasks Blue Max with locating the missing individuals held by the Authority. As Blue Max analyzes the data, Rekkon's companions arrive at his office. Torm, the first to arrive, is a Human male from Kail who suspects that his father and brother were abducted by the Authority. The next two are a Trianii female named Atuarre and her mute cub Pakka. They are both searching for her mate, who was captured by the Authority and has not been heard from since. In Rekkon's case, his nephew disappeared without explanation after being overly critical of the Authority.

Atuarre reports that they have lost contact with Engret, another member of the group, leading Rekkon to believe that Engret has been silenced by the Authority. Shortly thereafter, Blue Max completes his analysis of the data and copies it to a data plaque. He also informs them that the Authority's Security Police have been alerted to their presence within the Data Center. Following Han's advice, Blue Max activates a series of false alarms across Orron III to facilitate their escape from the Authority's forces.

After engaging in a firefight with a group of Security Police, the group flees for the spaceport in a stolen skimmer, pursued by troopers. However, before they reach the spaceport, their pursuers cause Han to crash the skimmer. Thinking quickly, Chewbacca takes Blue Max and connects the small computer to a large agrirobot. After the connection is made, Chewbacca is attacked by a group of troopers who manage to pull him off the large harvesting machine. A larger group of troopers subdue and capture him.

Han attempts to assist him, but Rekkon prevents him from sacrificing himself by incapacitating him with a single blow. Blue Max does his best to aid Chewbacca, but the harvester's clumsiness limits him to killing some troopers. He decides to use it to transport Han and Rekkon's group to the spaceport. They safely reach the Falcon after Blue Max programs the harvester to run amok within the spaceport to create another distraction for their escape.

With the Falcon still disguised as a drone barge, Han and Rekkon's group depart from Orron III. However, the Shannador's Revenge, an Authority dreadnaught, stands in their way. The Shannador's Revenge locks a tractor beam onto the drone barge to which the Falcon is attached, but Han, alone in the cockpit except for Bollux, finds a way to exploit this. First, he jettisons thousands of tons of grain that were loaded onto the barge during their brief stay on Orron III into the dreadnaught's path. He then reverses the barge's acceleration as he detaches the Falcon from the barge. The barge collides with the Shannador's Revenge, allowing the Falcon to escape to the relative safety of hyperspace.

Han leaves the cockpit and discovers Rekkon's dead body slumped on the Falcon's gameboard. Han also finds the melted remnants of the data plaque containing the location of the Authority's detention facility. Suspecting everyone except himself and the droids, Han disarms Torm, Atuarre, and Pakka. He warns them that he will kill anyone who arouses his suspicion and then confines them to the cargo hold while he jettisons Rekkon's corpse. Han then discovers that in his final moments, Rekkon had written the location of the secret detention facility on the gameboard: "Stars' End, Mytus VII." Han obscures the words and resolves to continue the deceased man's mission.

Han sets a trap, telling each passenger that the facility is on a different planet in the Mytus system, causing Torm (who knows the real location) to reveal himself as the traitor. A scuffle ensues; Torm breaks free and attempts to take refuge in a compartment, only to realize that it is the Falcon's emergency airlock. He tries to negotiate with Han, but Han rejects his offer and ejects him into hyperspace without any protective gear.

The Falcon arrives in the Mytus system, but Han is uncertain how to infiltrate Stars' End until the Falcon's communications system intercepts a message from the Imperial Entertainers' Guild to the detention facility. The message states that the originally scheduled troupe is unable to perform and that a replacement act will be scheduled immediately. Presenting themselves as Madame Atuarre's Roving Performers, Han, Atuarre, Pakka, and the droids land at Stars' End.

The group of ersatz entertainers are immediately taken to Vice President Hirken, the head of the facility. During their conversation, Han learns that Hirken was expecting them to bring a gladiator droid, a role for which Bollux is ill-suited. Adding to the problem, Hirken's bodyguard, Uul-Rha-Shan, appears skeptical of their story. To buy more time and locate the prisoners, Han tells Hirken that Bollux was damaged before their arrival at Stars' End and presents Blue Max as a component that requires attention.

Hirken grants Han permission to make his repairs while Atuarre and Pakka perform for him and his wife. However, he becomes impatient at Han's absence and decides to have Bollux destroyed by his state-of-the-art gladiator droid in retaliation for what he perceives as a fraud. To make things more interesting, Hirken equips Bollux with a simple handheld shield and unleashes his Mark X Executioner upon the old labor droid.

Meanwhile, Han is escorted to Stars' End's general maintenance section. Once there, he tricks the technician who brought him into revealing the location of the facility's central computer section and then knocks him out. After acquiring the man's identification, he carries Blue Max to the central computer section unmolested.

Blue Max taps into the Authority's network and discovers that Chewbacca is being held prisoner in a stasis booth, the same fate as the other missing individuals. Han asks Blue Max if he can deactivate the prison's defense systems. Blue Max responds that he cannot, as the primary control systems can only be accessed through Hirken's master-control unit. However, if the master-control unit is deactivated, the secondary control systems, which Blue Max has access to, will take over. Han instructs Blue Max to initiate Stars' End's self-destruction sequence to force Hirken to choose between freeing the prisoners or the deaths of everyone within the facility.

When he learns of Bollux's duel with the Mark X Executioner, Blue Max insists that they must intervene for Bollux's sake. Han disagrees and tells Blue Max to continue with his work. Blue Max, who has befriended Bollux, refuses even when threatened with physical violence by Han, insisting that there is time for them to help Bollux. Han relents and takes Blue Max to the amphitheater where Bollux is facing the Executioner. On the way, Han encounters Atuarre and Pakka, who are heading to the Falcon, and informs them of his plan. They then continue on their separate ways.

Arriving at the amphitheater, Han and Blue Max find Bollux losing the battle against the Mark X Executioner. However, Blue Max has discovered the Executioner's weakness and manages to inform Bollux. Dodging the Executioner's attacks, Bollux throws himself underneath the Executioner and latches on, ripping out its cooling circuitry. The Executioner, unable to reach Bollux and rapidly overheating, races erratically around the arena and eventually explodes.

Enraged by the destruction of his toy, Hirken demands that Han agree to a duel with Uul-Rha-Shan. Believing his fate to be sealed, Han tricks his opponent into destroying the primary control systems; the secondary control systems activate, triggering the overload spiral that he and Blue Max had set up earlier, and Stars' End's power plant explodes. However, Han had failed to account for the combination of the facility's exterior deflector shields, its enhanced-bonding armor plate, anticoncussion field, and the depleted overhead deflector shield. When the power plant explodes, these factors, along with Mytus VII's weak gravity, cause Stars' End to be blasted off the planet's surface.

However, the prison facility has not reached escape velocity and begins to fall back down. With Hirken and his subordinates still confused, Han, Bollux, and Blue Max make their way to the lower levels of Stars' End to find Chewbacca and Doc, the one man who Han believes can get everyone out of this situation. On the main prison level, Han finds that many of the prisoners have been freed from stasis due to the power loss, and he helps them subdue their captors. He finds Chewbacca and Doc shortly thereafter and informs the grizzled outlaw tech about their current predicament.

They conclude that their only chance to survive the impending crash is to reach the engineering levels and re-energize Stars' End's anti-concussion field before impact. Han and some of the prisoners will hold Hirken and his forces at bay while Doc and others attempt to reach the engineering section. However, Doc soon returns and informs Han that Authority reinforcements have arrived at Stars' End from an assault craft that has docked at the tower's lower airlock to rescue Hirken.

Han decides that their last option is to rush the Authority forces on the upper levels and take Hirken hostage, a desperate gamble that will likely result in heavy casualties even if it succeeds. Just before they are about to proceed, they discover that Atuarre has docked the Falcon to the airlock on the detention level. While not all of the prisoners can fit aboard the Falcon, Atuarre has secured one of the facility's tunnel-tube junctions to the Falcon, and the Authority assault craft docked at Stars' End's lower airlock, nearly devoid of Authority troops, serves as a convenient escape vessel.

While covering the evacuation of the remaining prisoners, Han discovers Bollux, who had been left behind in the chaos. As he is helping the ancient droid up, he is shot at by Uul-Rha-Shan. Bollux pushes Han out of the way and is hit in the head by the disruptor beam. Han returns fire from the hip and kills Hirken's reptilian bodyguard. Han drags Bollux back to the tunnel-tube to the Falcon, receiving assistance from Keeheen, Atuarre's mate.

Once Han is inside the tube, Hirken tries to reach the airlock alone, pleading with Han to let him aboard. He is cut off mid-sentence when he is shot in the back by his wife. Han seals the tube and detaches it, leaving them and Stars' End behind. The tower crashes onto the surface of Mytus VII as the Falcon and the captured Authority assault ship escape safely.

The two ships land on the planet Urdur, the new location of the outlaw techs' base. Although Bollux's body is beyond repair, Blue Max managed to preserve his personality, and Doc promises a new body for Bollux. Han becomes angry at Jessa when she offers only a verbal thank you for risking his life to save her father and the others. She reminds him that he was merely fulfilling his part of a deal, but stops him before he leaves. Jessa suggests that she and Han could strike another deal, listing various upgrades for the Falcon. Hearing this, Chewbacca becomes so overjoyed that he kisses the Falcon's landing gear and then watches as Han and Jessa snuggle, walking away to discuss Han's end of the arrangement.

Han Solo at Stars' End was authored by Brian Daley and published through Del Rey. Daley was constrained by editorial mandates to set his narrative prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, but without the presence of the Empire or other central figures from the film. In response, Daley conceived the Corporate Sector.

• ISBN 9780345282514 ; April 1979 ; Del Rey; US hardcover [1]
• (No ISBN) 3356; 1979; Del Rey; US hardcover, Book Club Edition [5]
• ISBN 9780345283559 ; September 12 , 1979; Del Rey; US paperback [2]
• ISBN 9780345296641 ; 1997 ; Del Rey; US paperback, reissue [6]