Aftermath: Life Debt

Aftermath: Life Debt is a canon novel written by Chuck Wendig. It is the second book in The Aftermath Trilogy, which started with Aftermath, and was released on July 12, 2016.

Publisher's summary
''The galaxy is changing, and with peace now a possibility, some dare to imagine new beginnings and new destinies. For Han Solo, that means settling his last outstanding debt, by helping Chewbacca liberate the Wookiee's home world of Kashyyyk.''

''Meanwhile, Norra Wexley and her band of rebels pursue Admiral Rae Sloane and the remaining Imperial leadership across the galaxy. Sloane, increasingly wary of the mysterious fleet admiral, desperately searches for a means to save the crumbling Empire from oblivion. Even as Imperial forces fight to regain lost ground, Princess Leia and the New Republic seek to broker a lasting peace.''

''But the rebel's hunt for Admiral Sloane is cut short after the disappearance of Han Solo and Chewbacca. Desperate to save them, Leia conscripts Norra, Sinjir, Jas, and the rest of their team to find the missing smugglers and help them in their fight for freedom.''

Prelude
Thirty years before 5 ABY, a twelve-year old Gallius Rax stumbles upon an excavation project in the deserts of the planet Jakku. The excavation party includes Adviser Yupe Tashu. He sneaks aboard a starship.

Part One
On the planet Chandrila, Senator Leia Organa talks with her husband Han Solo via hologram, who is searching for his co-pilot Chewbacca after being separated during a failed attempt to liberate the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Leia wants to lobby the New Republic's Galactic Senate to liberate Kashyyyk and hopes that her husband, who is a General in the New Republic military, can sway the senators. However, Han has resigned his commission in order to find Chewbacca. He promises to come home but their conversation is interrupted. Leia realizes her husband is in trouble.

Meanwhile, the New Republic starfighter pilot Norra Wexley and her allies Jom Barell, former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus, and the bounty hunter Jas Emari infiltrate the palace of the Vorlaggn crime lord Slussen Clanker on the planet Vorlag. The rebels are hunting down the former Imperial Vice Admiral Perwin Gedde as part of their campaign to hunt down Imperial fugitives. Their plan is to kidnap Gedde and then get her son Temmin Wexley to evacuate them in their ship Halo. However, they are captured by Slussen's guards and Jas pretends to turn on her friends.

The rebels are locked into cages which hang above several Hroth-beasts. Sinjir manages to free himself and his comrades using a key that Jas had attached to the neck of one of the beasts. Following a brief struggle, they managed to escape the dungeon by flinging rotten meat at the guards, who are then devoured by the Hroth-beasts. Using a lava tube, Nora and her team sneak into Gedde's room where they find that Jas has already disarmed the Vice Admiral, who is addicted to spice. The rebels then escape with the Admiral aboard the Halo. Their ship is pursued by TIE fighters but Temmin, who is training as a pilot, shoots down two of the fighters and they leave Vorlag.

Elsewhere, Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, the command of the Imperial Navy and de facto leader of the Galactic Empire, gives a propaganda broadcast on behalf of the Office of Imperial Promotion, Galactic Truth, and Fact Correction (OIP), a remnant ofthe former Commission for the Preservation of the New Order (COMPNOR). Her chief information officer Ferric Obdur has also produced posters attacking the New Republic and the two discuss propaganda strategies. Sloane's aide Adea Rite, who had escaped from Akiva with the connivance of Fleet Admiral Rax, enters the room to inform her commander that the Fleet Admiral is requesting a meeting with Sloane.

Inside Rax's office, the Fleet Admiral likens his counter-strategy against the Empire to an opera play. Rax orders Sloane to fetch him Commandant Brendol Hux and his bastard son. Rax intends to establish a Shadow Council to guide the resurgence of the Empire from behind the scenes. Rax also advocates starting up a breeding program among the remnants of the Empire to build up their strength against the Republic. Due to her conversation with Rax, Sloane comes to distrust the Grand Admiral and his cult-like ideas. Later, Sloane meets with her aide Adea and orders her to commission an inventory of Imperial ships, arrange a meeting with the bounty hunter Mercurial Swift, and to write a draft for a new breeding program.

Later, Senator Leia and Chancellor Mon Mothma have a secret meeting with Grand Vizier Mas Amedda on Kolo-ha, an atoll on the ocean planet of Velusia. With Coruscant facing a civil war, Ameeda offers to surrender himself to the New Republic. However, Leia and Mothma reject his offer and instead order him to find a way to secure the Empire's surrender.

Back on Vorlag, Jom and Norra angrily confront Jas Emari over her "betrayal" during the mission to kidnap Vice-Admiral Gedde. Jas admits planning to double-cross them but insists that she planned to double-cross Slussen and Gedde. Temmin admits being privy to Jas's plans which leads to a fight between Jom and Jas. However, the two quickly repair their relationship and fall in love. Norra and her team fly the Halo into Chandria's Hanna City where Sinjir gets his wounded arm treated. Upon arriving, Temmin and his B1 battle droid Mister Bones are greeted by the fighter pilot Wedge Antilles, who has become a mentor to Temmin. However, their reunion is soured by the news that Gedde died in transit; preventing the New Republic from interrogating him. Jas determines that the Admiral was poisoned with Kytrogorgia. Shortly later, Norra receives news that Princess Leia wants an audience with her.

In Leia's office, the Princess recounts how her husband Han Solo departed on a half-baked mission which turned out to be a trap set by the Empire. Chewbacca was captured and Han has since been trying to find his companion. Leia fears for her husband's safety and tells her that he was last sighted in the Outer Rim Territories near Wild Space. Norra agrees to help Leia, whom she respects.

Meanwhile, Grand Admiral Sloane and Adea Rite travel to the besieged galactic capital Coruscant, which is being held by a paltry Imperial Security Bureau fleet. Together, the two travel to the Hall of Imperial Register to search for records on the Empire's Super Star Destroyers. With the destruction of six Dreadnoughts in space battles with the Rebellion including Darth Vader's Executor, three in the hands of the New Republic, one captured by pirates, and two more lost in accidents, Sloane's Ravager is officially the only remaining Dreadnought in Imperial hands. However, Sloane discovers evidence that the Emperor's Super Star Destroyer Eclipse was not destroyed as claimed. She also finds an image proving that Rax and Grand Vizier Amedda were privy to some secrets.

Reception
As of August 6, 2016, reception for Aftermath: Life Debt has been generally positive, particularly in comparison with the preceding Aftermath title. The title carries an overall customer reviewer rating of 3.7/5 stars on Amazon.com, with 41% of reviewers giving the title 5 stars and a further 29% awarding it 4 stars. In comparison, the original Aftermath title only carries an overall rating of only 2.6/5 stars with over 2,000 reviews and 67% of reviewers giving the title 3 stars or less. The reviewer who posted the review of Aftermath: Life Debt that visitors to the site voted as most helpful, Andrew Cherry, stated that he was lukewarm towards the original title, but found the second "hilarious to poingnant [sic] to shocking and back again" and also praised the character growth of the characters found in the original title. Max Palas, a reviewer for the Star Wars fan site Star Wars Post, described the title as "Simply, outstandingly great Star Wars" and praised author Chuck Wendig for bringing fun back to Star Wars.