Ambush at Corellia

Ambush at Corellia is the first book in the Corellian Trilogy by Roger MacBride Allen Published by Bantam Spectra in March 1995.

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 coexistence 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
Eighteen years after the Battle of Yavin. This story was centered around the Corellian system, consisting of a group of habitable planets known as the Five Brothers: Corellia, Selonia, Drall, Talus, and Tralus. Because the system was known for possessing an inward-looking political structure, and was not recipient to any of the radical changes produced by the rapid overhauls in government of the last forty years, it came as a pleasant surprise then that the New Republic was able to set up a trade summit on Corellia to open the sector to the rest of the galaxy. Leia Organa Solo was then sent to spearhead the Coruscant delegation.

Han Solo saw it as a good opportunity to bring his children along and show them where their old man grew up, make a vacation out of the proceedings. While he was prepping the Millennium Falcon on Coruscant, he was approached by New Republic Intelligence (NRI) operative Lieutenant Belindi Kalenda, who warned him that six previous NRI operatives had been dispatched to Corellia to assess its political climate and had not been heard from since. She also requested that Han acted as suspicious as possible during his visit to distract whoever may be working against them, so that the NRI could insert more teams without their awareness. After Kalenda left, Han spotted, and with the help of Chewbacca, destroyed a reprogrammed Imperial probe droid which had been listening in on their conversation. Unbeknownst to Han, the droid was revealed to have been dispatched by Pharnis Gleasry, an agent of the Human League, working a mission for an elusive figure known only as the Hidden Leader. Gleasry’s primary mission objective was to deliver an encoded message with Luke Skywalker to Corellia, but only after Leia Organa Solo had already departed.

Han did not reveal the probe droid incident to his wife, and the state of unrest in the Corellian sector and the possible danger they all face puts strains on the Solo family. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker, who was struggling with being an unneeded old war hero in a time of peace, was assigned a mission by Mon Mothma (who could relate to his condition), mostly to keep him occupied. She predicts that Luke will soon inevitably delve into politics, where he would be needed more, in an interesting contrast to his sister's Jedi training. He was told to meet Lando Calrissian and travel with him on his quest to find a wife, which would presumably boost Luke's public relations skills as part of his political training.

Lt. Kalenda made her way back to Corellia ahead of the Solo family, undercover as a lower-class trader with engine troubles. Her entry to the system was immediately greeted by hostile fire from a Pocket Patrol Boat (PPB), thus indicating that the NRI had been compromised. She crashed into the Corellian Sea, with just enough strength to swim to shore.

Luke sees the Solo family off and meets Lando in his newly-constructed Dometown, his latest (and simplest) project. Lando showed Luke a list he had compiled of potential wives, all women with money who were interested in marrying a young entrepreneur that could turn their fortune into an even bigger one. They set off to meet the first candidate, which forces Gleasry, who assumed that Luke would have been traveling to Corellia, to use an alternative delivery method for his encoded message. Lando’s first attempt at finding a partner nearly ends in death, when his potential suitor winds up being a life-witch.

When the Solos arrived at Corellia, they were fired on by a trio of Uglies, which were destroyed by a group of PPB’s manned by the Corellian Defense Force. Han concluded that it had been a staged attack and rescue, meant to get Han to trust the CDF. He played along with the ruse.

Pharnis Gleasry, needing a new courier after Skywalker’s departure, chose Mara Jade as the recipient of the encoded message, who was en route to the same Corellian trade summit. The Solo family, then on-planet, settled into a villa, discretely observed from an adjacent building by Lt. Kalenda, who had 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 visited the capital city of Coronet. His findings were grim: the city was dilapidated and empty, save for a parade of drunk Human League members who took it upon themselves to knock him out and imprison him simply for being Han Solo. The Hidden Leader, still unrevealed, ordered his release, as a vague warning to the rest of the family.

The following evening, Han and Leia met with Corellia’s New Republic-appointed Governor-General, Micamberlecto. The Frozian explained 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 comprised the population (the Drall, Selonians, and Humans) were forming various alliances and enemies on the Five Brothers and made factions difficult to discern.

The Solo family played sightseers for a while, waiting for the tipping point, and Ebrihim took them to a vast archaeological dig, manned by a staff bearing similar uniforms to the Human League. The dig was allegedly for the purpose of uncovering historical artifacts, but the cover story was thin. During a guided tour, little Anakin, using his special Force-sensitivity, sneaked away from the group, followed by his siblings, and found a secret pyramidal chamber, as of yet undiscovered by the diggers. The three children covered the vault entrance back up and rejoined their parents, without telling them of their discovery. Upon their return home, Han ushered his family ahead to Corona House, Micamberlecto’s residence and site of the upcoming summit. He doubled back to the villa and weeded out Lt. Kalenda, whom he had discovered was spying on them. He brought her food and instructed her to be on call for any potential trouble.

Meanwhile, Lando’s next suitor lead him to Sacorria, an outlier world of the Corellian system. Lando liked the new woman, Tendra Risant, enough to set up a future rendezvous with her before he and Luke were abruptly kicked off planet by the local government for unknown reasons. Lando considered his search concluded, so they started to make their way towards Corellia to meet up with the Solos.

On the night of the trade summit at Corona House, everything came to a head. Mara Jade arrived with the encoded message, addressed to Leia. It was from the Hidden Leader, informing them that if his future demands were not met, he would begin to trigger supernova explosions within a number of stars in the Corellian system. Included were coordinates for those specific stars and the last on the list was Corell itself. The message was 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 began simultaneously. Corona House was attacked, and in the ensuing carnage, Han escaped to assist Lt. Kalenda in getting off-planet to deliver a distress message back to Coruscant. She stole a ship with the help of his explosive diversion, but Han was captured. Chewbacca grabbed the kids and flew the Falcon away in the company of Ebrihim, but his hyperdrive was damaged in the escape attempt. They decide instead to attempt to reach Drall at sublight speeds. Leia alone remained trapped in Corona House, awaiting demands.

The following morning, the Hidden Leader made his first public appearance on holovid, revealing himself to be Thrackan Sal-Solo, Han’s sadistic cousin. He declared secession from the New Republic and demanded deportation of all non-human species from Corellia. The book concluded with Luke and Lando abruptly yanked out of hyperspace at the edges of the Corellian system by an interdiction field, the largest known one in history. The field prevented any rescue attempts from outside forces, but helpless to do anything else, they immediately turned around and started the journey back to Coruscant to get help.

Behind the scenes

 * The publisher's summary is the only section in this book that spells Drall as "Drallan".
 * A street named "Starliner" is referenced. Although there is a Starline Avenue, it is unknown whether or not this is a spelling error as well, or if they are two different streets.
 * Even though Q9-X2 is described as being jet black in color, all other images are red and white.
 * The book states that the Empire has been completely defeated, denying the existance of an Imperial Remnant.

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Ambush at Corellia.