Rebel Dawn

Rebel Dawn is volume three of the Han Solo Trilogy by A. C. Crispin, and the final chapter in the Rise of the Empire era.

The three volumes of The Han Solo Adventures cover a period of over a year during interludes in this novel.

American

 * ISBN 0553574175; March 9, 1998, Bantam Spectra, 389-page paperback

Foreign

 * ISBN 8372454622; 2001, Amber, 400-page Polish paperback
 * ISBN 802520250X; 2005, EGMONT ČR, 272-page Czech paperback (Úsvit rebelů)
 * ISBN 5792107068; 2006, Eksmo Publishing, 528-page Russian hardcover (Хэн Соло и мятежный рассвет)

Publisher's summary
The Millennium Falcon'' is "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy." So when Han Solo wins it in a game of sabacc, he and Chewbacca become kings of the smugglers—uncatchable and unstoppable. But with the Empire clamping down, Han knows his luck can't last. Still, when an old girlfriend who is now the leader of an insurgent Rebel group offers him a shot at an incredible fortune, Han can't resist. The plan seems a sure thing. The resistance will be light and the take enormous. Han and his friends will divide it equally with the Rebels. Too bad for Han that the planet of Ylesia is far from a pushover, that the Rebels have an agenda of their own, and that smuggler friends can often turn into enemies&hellip;quicker than lightspeed.

Plot summary
Han Solo wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in an intense sabacc tournament on Bespin. He begins upgrading the freighter into a highly-specialized smuggling vessel, and also makes a brief stop with Chewbacca on the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk, where Chewbacca gets married to Mallatobuck. Solo and Chewbacca then embark on a series of adventures that are set in interludes in this novel, but are described more fully in Brian Daley's 1979 trilogy The Han Solo Adventures.

After returning to Nar Shaddaa, Solo is reunited with his old flame Bria Tharen, now an agent of the Rebel Alliance. He is reluctant in aiding his former love, who is planning an all-out attack against the slaving colonies on Ylesia. Promised appropriate compensation, Han, Lando, and Chewbacca take on the mission. In the aftermath of the battle, Tharen's troopers turn their blasters on Lando and the rest of Han's friends, confiscating all valuables in the name of the Rebel Alliance. Angered, Han threatens to kill Bria if he ever sees her again. Defaced and branded a traitor back on Nar Shaddaa, Lando refuses to believe Han was not involved in the swindle, and punches his former friend in the jaw.

Desperate for money, Han and Chewie take a spice smuggling run from Jabba (who has inherited his aunt's criminal empire) through the Kessel Run. However, they are met mid-Run by an Imperial patrol, and are forced to abandon their cargo in deep space while the Falcon is searched and escorted to a nearby world. When they come back to look for the cargo, however, they discover it has disappeared. Han tries to explain what happened, but Jabba — in a drug-induced haze — turns his back on Han and demands compensation for the lost spice.

Meanwhile, Bria leads a rebel raid on Toprawa in which rebel spies transmit the plans for the Death Star I to Leia Organa aboard the Tantive IV. Bria and her squadron are all killed in the raid, but the plans are successfully transmitted. This is the "first victory" of the Rebels described in the opening crawl of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

On Tatooine, Han tries unsuccessfully to arrange a personal meeting with Jabba, and is increasingly harassed by bounty hunters working for the crime lord. While looking for a card game in which he may be able to win the money needed to pay off Jabba, he briefly encounters Dash Rendar, a character featured prominently in Shadows of the Empire. He is interrupted by news of Bria's death, delivered by Boba Fett, who also informs Han that Greedo (who Han later shoots at the cantina) is looking for him, and may try to kill him. The following day he records a message to Bria's father passing on the news.

He then proceeds to Chalmun's cantina, where Chewbacca has just met with Obi-Wan Kenobi to discuss chartering the Falcon for passage to Alderaan. The book ends as Han sits down to a table where Obi-Wan and Luke Skywalker are waiting, which is the exact same moment of his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Rebel Dawn.