Last Shot

Last Shot is a canon novel written by Daniel José Older that serves as a tie-in to the 2018 Anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story. The novel was first published by Del Rey on April 17, 2018 in hardcover, and it was released in paperback on October 30, 2018.
==Publisher's summary==
Even the fastest ship in the galaxy can't outrun the past....
THEN:
It's one of the galaxy's most dangerous secrets: a mysterious transmitter with unknown power and a reward for its discovery that most could only dream of claiming. But those who fly the Millennium Falcon throughout its infamous history aren't your average scoundrels. Not once, but twice, the crew of the Falcon tries to claim the elusive prize—first, Lando Calrissian and the droid L3-37 at the dawn of an ambitious career, and later, a young and hungry Han Solo with the help of his copilot, Chewbacca. But the device's creator, the volatile criminal Fyzen Gor, isn't interested in sharing. And Gor knows how to hold a grudge....
NOW:
It's been ten years since the rebel hero Han Solo last encountered Fyzen Gor. After mounting a successful rebellion against the Empire and starting a family with an Alderaanian princess, Han hasn't given much thought to the mad inventor. But when Lando turns up at Han's doorstep in the middle of the night, it's Fyzen's assassins that he's running from. And without Han's help, Lando—and all life on Cloud City—will be annihilated.
With the assistance of a young hotshot pilot, an Ewok slicer prodigy, the woman who might be the love of Lando's life, and Han's best and furriest friend, the two most notorious scoundrels in the New Republic are working together once more. They'll have to journey across the stars—and into the past—before Gor uses the device's power to reshape the galaxy.
==Plot summary==
Last Shot consists of four storylines, spread across five parts. The main storyline is set in the New Republic era two years after the Battle of Jakku. It is told from the points of view of Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, who are coming to terms with life in the New Republic. The other three storylines are a collection of flashback chapters set during the Imperial Era featuring Solo, Calrissian, L3-37, the antagonistic Pau'an rogue surgeon Fyzen Gor, and the Wandering Star crime boss Cli Pastayra.
===Fyzen Gor's origins storyline===
====The abduction====
About twenty years before the events of the novel in 7 ABY, Fyzen Gor is a promising medical student at Prasteen Braak, Utapau's most prestigious school. He and fellow medical student Greesto Ftrak were kidnapped by the Pau'an Wandering Star crime syndicate. Greesto is mortally wounded by his captors for talking too much. Shortly thereafter, the speeder is ambushed by a gang of Utai raiders. Fyzen and a medical droid escape the massacre. Instead of heading back to his family, Fyzen takes the medical droid and a dying Utai into an abandoned sinkhole.
Following the kidnapping, Fyzen sets up an improvised operating theater in the abandoned sinkhole, which had previously been inhabited by an Amani clan. Fyzen keeps his comatose friend Greesto and wounded Utai raider alive, using their bodies and blood for his strange cybernetic experiments. Believing machines to be superior to flesh, Fyzen conducts an experimental surgery that involves attaching the arm of the dying Greesto to the body of the medical droid, who becomes his companion. After this successful experiment, Fyzen turns his attention to the dying Utai raider and the fallen corpses and broken droids.
====A twisted scientist====
For the next two years, Gor spends his time grafting the limbs and body parts of organics into his fourteen droid followers. Fyzen causes a conflict with the neighboring Amani clans by kidnapping four Amani younglings and butchering them for his experiments. Three of the kidnapped children were the offspring of an Amani chief. The vengeful Amani chief sends his tribal warriors to Gor's sinkhole to avenge his family. However, Gor's fourteen droids wipe out the entire regiment at the cost of two of their own, becoming known as the "Original Dozen."
The other Amani tribes stage a second assault but Gor wipes them out with several explosives. His droids then finish the survivors. The Amani tribes launch more raids but Gor and his droids defeat them using cunning tactics including maneuvering them into a tight corner and using explosives to trigger a landfall. Gor comes to believe that his abduction, triumph over his Wandering Star captors and the Utai, and his survival prove that he is destined for greater things.
Later, Gor and his encampment are besieged by the forces of Cli Pastayra, the head of the Wandering Star's Fourth Directorate. Gor's droids kill the first wave of intruders but Cli deploys two F-99 radon gunships which bomb the battlefield, destroying four of the Original Dozen. Holding the upper hand, Cli gives Fyzen a second chance to submit, taking an interest in his "monstrous droids."
Facing the threat of annihilation by a second bombing run, Gor submits and reveals that he has more droids beneath the bunker. Cli tells Gor that he wants to make use of Gor's talents and skills.
===Lando's flashback storyline===
About fifteen years before the events of the novel, a well-dressed Lando Calrissian chats with an old friend, the Vice Grand Administrator Prita Sven and Sardis Ramsin at Weigh Station Karambola. Before Lando can show them his starship the Millennium Falcon, his pilot droid L3-37 tells Lando that they have to leave urgently and head to the Farfax system due to an urgent matter.
Lando and L3 fly the Millennium Falcon into an ice asteroid system called the Mesulan Remnants Belt, which was formed from the former ice moon Mesula. Before L3 can land the Falcon in the middle of the shattered ice moon, they are joined by three TIE fighters and an Imperial shuttle. Lando and L3 watch as the Imperials are attacked by a mysterious figure in a space suit, who destroys one of the TIEs and damages a second TIE.
Following the melee, Lando and L3 approach the damaged TIE fighter. The TIE fighter pilot orders them to turn around but Lando shoots destroys the TIE fighter with the Millennium Falcon cannons. After docking at the ice asteroid, they discover that the asteroid base is littered with broken and disintegrated droids, which L3 describes as a massacre. Before they leave, L3 and Lando pick up a surviving droid named D9, who warns them about an Imperial astromech droid spy, which Lando eliminates. D9 tells Lando and L3 about an ominous threat who is building something known as the Phylanx Redux Transmitter.
After departing the asteroid, L3 picks up a signal coming from Sector seven forty-six. She tells Lando that she thinks that the Maker consist of droids forging themselves through their own life experiences. Lando and L3 witness a figure in a spacesuit and his Original Dozen, which have been enhanced with organic parts, attacking and destroy several TIE fighters. The cyborg creatures turn their attention to the Falcon. After fighting off the cyborg droids, Lando and L3 escape with the Falcon into hyperspace.
===L3's chapter: Combating the coming apocalypse===
Following their escape from the Mesulan Remnants Belt, Calrissian jokingly asks L3 about her sexual encounter with "Number One" inside the ice asteroid. Choosing not to tell Lando the full details of her encounter with Number One, L3 reflects on her encounter with "Number One's" droid head inside the junk heap. She discovered that Gor is sending the Phylanx across the galaxy to strengthen its operational capacity and transmission range.
This is part of his long-term plan to use the Phylanx to transmit a virus containing the kill program. Before leaving the asteroid, L3 had reprogramed the Phylanx's programming to create an antivirus code that would be resistant to Gor's organic killing virus. She sets the antivirus program loose with the intention of seeding it across the galaxy, hoping to derail Gor's conspiracy. Her programming sows the seeds of the Elthree Assault Team, which she tasks with finding the Phylanx.
===Cli Pastayra's chapter: Auction of death===
About ten years before the events of the novel, the Wandering Stars crime lord Cli Pastayra attends an auction at a Cantonica amphitheater. Also present are Sana Starros of the Droid Gotra, the Blue Stars, and an Imperial representative. He is being served by one of Fyzen's droids Fenbolt, who refreshes his drinks for him. Cli hopes to make a big fortune selling off the Phylanx Redux Transmitter.
During the auction, Fyzen's droids attack the auctioneers and customers. Cli is wounded by a blaster shot but manages to evacuate to safety with the Grand Vygoth, the head of the Wandering Star crime syndicate. The Grand Vygoth is killed by Fenbolt under Fyzen's orders. Before his death, Vygoth tells Cli that Fyzen was behind the massacre.
Cli is attacked from behind by Fyzen and Fenbolt. Cli manages to fend off Fenbolt but is knocked down by a droid guard, who hamstrings his knee tendons with a sharp blade. As he bleeds, a vengeful Cli sends the coded signal Sranfrak Creek to kill Fyzen's family. However, Fyzen mockingly replies that he abandoned his parents when he vanished into the deadlands of Utapau. Fenbolt then beheads Cli under Fyzen's orders.
===Han's flashback storyline===
====Crossing paths with Sana====
Following the disastrous auction on Cantonica, Sana Starros meets with Han Solo at Maz Kanata's castle on the planet Takodana, seeking to hire him and the Millennium Falcon for a smuggling job. Han, Chewbacca, and Sana are attacked by a pack of Hassk thugs but they manage to fight them off. Solo then asks Sana about the smuggling job.
While waiting for Chewbacca to prepare the Millennium Falcon for departure, Han is menaced by the serpentine, six-legged Fromprath musician Frapsen. Maz Kanata intervenes before a fight can break out and chats with Han, telling him that Frapsen is playing a song about missing Dathomir. Just as Sana returns, Frapsen attacks and subdues a Trandoshan bounty hunter who had been pursuing Sana. The Trandoshan is accompanied by other Trandoshan hunters. Han, Chewie, and Sana escape Sana's pursuers by taking the Falcon into space. Han demands that Sana reveal what she stole.
Sana tells Han and Chewbacca that she had been sent by her employers to bid for a piece of technology known as the Phylanx Redux Transmitter. She had competed against several parties including a Crimson Dawn agent, a Talz smuggler and the Commerce Guild. The auction had been run by a crime syndicate known as the Wandering Star, which was led by a sinister Pau'an figure. However, the auction was interrupted by a gunfight and two of the Wandering Stars' leaders were killed. Sana convinces Han to help her flush out the competition by tricking their competitors into thinking they have the Phylanx Redux Transmitter.
Han and Chewbacca discover that Sana is transporting the diminutive Frizznoth Crime lord Mozeen Parapa, whom she rescued on Takodana when the bounty hunters attacked. Han considers throwing Mozeen out the airlock but relents when Mozeen offers to help them locate the Phylanx in return for being reunited with his henchmen and receiving seven percent of the bounty on the Phylanx. Sana tracks the Phylanx's signal to Freerago's Satellite Diner and Motel, which orbits the planet Hosnian Prime.
====Claiming the Phylanx====
At Freerago's Diner and Motel, Sana and Han reunite Mozeen with his henchmen, tiny aliens who wear body suits. In return for helping him, Mozeen spares their lives and honors the agreement to only take seven percent of the Phylanx's bounty. He reveals that the Phylanx is in the hands of a Pau'an named Fyzen Gor and warns that the device wields a large amount of power.
At the Diner, Han Solo gets into a fight with the bellicose Imperial Admiral Ruas Fastent, who is arguing with waitress over poor service and an Ithorian patron. From the waitress, Solo learns that the Diner has hired a Pau'an to run the kitchen droids. This Pau'an turns out to be Fyzen Gor, who has reprogrammed the kitchen droids into killing machines. While the diners fight with the kitchen droids, Han and Chewie pursue Fyzen.
Pursuing Fyzen through the motel, Han runs into the path of one of his reprogrammed droids, which he shoots down with a blaster. He shoots at four more droids. After fighting through countless droids, Han reunites with Chewbacca, who has also manage to fend more off with his bowcaster. Amidst the chaos, they witness Fyzen in a dark green robe killing off a squad of stormtroopers.
Han and Chewbacca sneak up on Fyzen and demand that he give up the Phylanx at gunpoint. Gor replies that it has only begun. A squad of stormtroopers approach Fyzen but throws a package containing the Phylanx. The Phylanx shreds its wrapping and hurls out an open wall into zero-gravity space. However, the Phylanx is sucked up by the waiting Millennium Falcon, which opens a tiny compartment in its underside. Gor fires at the retreating Falcon as he is subdued by stormtroopers. Han and Chewie depart the scene and arrange for Sana, who is flying the Falcon, to pick them up.
====Losing the Phylanx====
After Han has stolen the Phylanx from Fyzen, the Millennium Falcon is boarded Gorben Frak and several bounty hunters, who have been hired by the Droid Gotra to obtain the Phylanx. They are joined by the Parapa Cartel, who have come to collect Mozeen's share of the bounty. The Parapa Cartel gun down two Ithorian and Zabrak bounty hunters. With Sana's approval, Han flushes the Phylanx out the chute.
After the bounty hunters and Parapa Cartel have left, Sana is furious with Han for throwing away a multimillion-credit bounty. Han thinks he was following Sana's instructions but she responds that she was bluffing. Han blames Sana for escalating the situation by not giving up the Phylanx to the bounty hunters. Sana says that it was a mistake for her to involve Han and tells Chewbacca to drop her back on Takodana.
===New Republic storyline===
====Prologue====
In 7 ABY, the protocol droid DRX-7 works for Lando Calrissian's Calrissian Enterprises in Cloud City. While attending to Calrissian and one of his Twi'lek guardians Kaasha Bateen, DRX encounters a cloaked assassin droid who activates a kill program inside the protocol droid. DRX tries to assassinate Calrissian. Despite overpowering Lobot and shooting Calrissian, DRX is shot by Bateen, who in turn is gunned down by the mysterious stranger.
====A tense reunion====
On Chandrila, Han Solo is trying to put his young son Ben Solo to bed with the help of the protocol droid T-2LC. Since the Battle of Jakku, Solo has found a job chairing the newly-formed New Republic Pilots Commission despite his hatred for meetings. He struggles to make sense of the New Republic's bureaucratic intricacies. While Han is arguing with the BX-778 chef droid over Endorian caf beans, his wife Princess Leia Organa tells him that she needs to use the living room for work. After putting Ben to bed, Han is visited by an angry Calrissian, who punches him in the face.
Later, Lando relates his encounter with the Pau'an gangster Fyzen Gor's droid assassin who activated the kill program inside his protocol droid. Lando says that droid assassin was looking for a Phylanx Redux Transmitter. Calrissian confronts Solo since the droid claimed that the phylanx transmitter was illegally obtained by the owner of the Millennium Falcon ten years ago; when Solo owned the ship. Lando tells Han and Leia that Fryzen is threatening to unleash a massacre on Cloud City if Calrissian does not return his transmitter within 72 hours.
Han recalls doing a run ten years earlier with his previous wife Sana Starros involving some kind of device. Leia leaves the two men to resolve their problems since she is attending an emergency security council session the following day. Han agrees to stop Gor's plot to hijack droids on Cloud City. An excited Ben Solo greets "Uncle" Lando before being whisked away by T-2LC.
====Yearning for adventure====
Later, Lando meets with the Twi'lek aide Kaasha and the Ugnaught droid expert Florx Biggles aboard his starship Lady Luck. Florx has been repairing the damaged DRX and reactivates the droid's main cortex processor at Lando's bidding. They discover that the droid is still infected with the kill programming.
Meanwhile, a bored Han Solo chairs the inaugural meeting of the New Republic Pilots Commission, where Frandu the Rodian advocates a standardized licensing system for all pilots across the galaxy. In his thoughts, Han struggles with being a father due to his own lack of a father figure. Returning home, Solo is greeted by Leia, who informs him that she has packed his clothes and weapons for his mission with Lando and Kaasha. Leia tells Solo to promise to come back alive.
====Assembling a team====
Later, Lando meets with Han and Leia at their apartment to discuss hiring a pilot since Lando wants their mission to be under the New Republic's radar. Lando also introduces his Twi'lek aide Kaasha, a veteran of the Free Ryloth Movement's Pasa Novo campaign, and his Ugnaught droid expert Florx Biggles. After the meeting, Lando and Kaasha walk along the Grand Promenade of the Rebellion. Kaasha tells Lando that she left a school tour group in order to follow Lando due to her romantic feelings for him. The two also give some spare change to a crippled rebel veteran of the Battle of Hoth.
Lando and Han later visit the New Republic Defense Fleet headquarters seeking the services of the slicer Conder Kyl, the New Republic's chief of cyberwarfare. Conder is unable to help due to his busy schedule but lends the services of the Ewok slicer Peekpa, who agrees to join their quest on the condition that Chewbacca come with them.
Lando and Han visit the space station Frander's Bay above Chandrila to recruit a pilot. After gambling, Lando and Han visit the Toydarian diviner Poppy Delu, who teaches Lando the game of vazaveer, which are made from the parts of the Original Dozen. Poppy refuses to sell them the Vazaveer fichas but Solo helps Lando steal it. Lando and Solo recruit Taka Jamoreesa, a young non-binary pilot who boasts of being an ace wanted in eighteen galaxies. Taka owns the modified ZV-9 freighter Vermillion, a former prisoner transport. With Leia's blessings, Han, Lando, Kasha Bateen, Florx, Peekpa, and Taka depart aboard the Vermillion.
During the journey, Han is annoyed that he is not piloting the ship. He also takes a dislike to Taka's choice of music. The Vermillion lands in Kashyyyk's Black Forest where they are greeted by Wookiee warriors. In the two years since the Liberation of Kashyyyk, the forest has regrown. Han and Lando are greeted by Chewbacca, who is pleased to see his old friends.The female Wookiee chief Karasshki tells them that a mysterious figure called the Long Man has been kidnapping and killing young Wookiees for mysterious purposes. Han tells the Wookiees that he and his friends are hunting for the Long Man and Chewbacca agrees to help.
====Mission to Grimdock====
Han Solo has a hologram conversation with Princess Leia and his son Ben Solo but cuts their conversation short as the Vermillion approaches the former Imperial prison moon Substation Grimdock. Upon arriving above Grimdock, the Vermillion encounters a pirate fleet commanded by the Cosian pirate Captain Viz Moshara of the Mon Cal freighter Radium Destrobar, who inquires about their presence. The pirate fleet consists of decommissioned New Republic Defense Fleet warships. Taka claims that they are here to perform some routine repairs.
However, since Taka is unaware of Magernon's Amnesty and the resulting crisis on Grimdock, Moshara orders his ship to capture the Vermillion in its tractor beam. Taka manages to scare Moshara into letting them go by threatening to unleash the ship's proton torpedoes. Han, Lando and their companions land at the station. While Lando, Kaasha, Florx, and Taka stay aboard the ship, Han, Chewbacca, Taka, and Peekpa disembark, posing as officials from the Department of Prisons on Chandrila investigating some possible technical malfunctions with the prison's computer station.
At Administrative Sector 44-B, Han and his companions meet with the Gungan administrator Aro N'cookaala, who takes offense when Han addresses him as "Meesa" due to its association with the negative laid-back stereotype of Gungans. Aro is working at Grimdock station due to the housing bubble in Naboo following the Trade Federation conflict. Aro hates the Sef Con, a private security force consisting of former Imperial veterans that runs the prison. Peekpa manages to convince Aro to let them visit the Grimdock Archive to facilitate their "research."
With Aro acting as their guide, Han and his team enter the Grimdock Archive where Peekpa beings searching for the Phylanx Redux Transmitter. They learn that Fyzen Gor was once incarcerated at Grimdock prison. However, Peekpa's search triggers an alert which brings several Sef Con personnel. A firefight breaks out when Aro and his companions refuses to leave and tells the security guards to get out of the way. Aro exacts a promise from Solo to get him off Grimdock onto one of the New Republic starships in orbit.
====Escaping Grimdock====
While Lando flirts with Kaasha in bed, Han's team and Aro battle Sef Con troopers. The Sef Con troopers are reinforced by a second squad known as the Forosnag Attack Battalion, who are equipped with creatures called forosnags which absorb blaster shots. However, Peekpa uses her slicing skills to open the floor panels, dropping the Sef Con troopers and their forosnag beasts into Subsector Twelve, which is inhabited by carnivorous bastaks. Chewbacca also rescues Han from a bastak, which has a hypnotic call.
Taka returns to the Vermillion to find Lando having sex with Kaasha. They enlist Lando's help in rescuing Han and the team, who are trapped in the prison with marauding bastaks. With the prison's computer systems down, Lando reboots DRX's head with the help of Florx but the droid is still infected with its kill programming. Kaasha tries to reprogram DRX but her efforts are to no avail.
Meanwhile, Han and his team are cornered by a second bastak but he manages to kill the creature by exploding a thermal detonator. Before more bastaks can finish them off, Taka arrives with the Vermillion and lowers a ladder for them. Aro, Chewbacca, and Peekpa climb to safety, Han stays behind to ward the creatures off with a second thermal detonator. Han is almost hypnotized by a bastak but Taka manages to sing to Han and convince him to climb to safety. Before flying away, Taka kills the advancing bastaks with the second detonator.
====A space battle====
Back in space, the Vermillion find that a New Republic fleet has arrived to blockade the pirates. They hail Captain Krull of the New Republic flagship Tribulan Vort, who wants to inspect all vessels leaving the sector. In an attempt to dissuade Captain Krull, Solo claims they are carrying radioactive weapons. Captain Krull is undaunted and sends the starship Krassbrucker to board them. However, the Krassbucker comes under attack from the pirate ship Radium Destrobar. In response, the New Republic deploys several new RZ-2 A-wing interceptors.
The pirate captain Moshara offers them safe passage but Lando rejects his offer. Lando realizes that Fyzen is aboard the Radium Destrobar. Han and Lando turn the Vermillion laser cannons on the Destrobar. The Vermillion deploys its own starfighters but Han and Lando shoot four of them down. Before Lando and Han can destroy the Destobar, the pirate ship crashes into another pirate frigate, destroying both ships. Lando sees a suited Fyzen escaping the rear hold of the Destrobar before the two ships are destroyed.
Following Fyzen's escape, Han and Lando argue. Lando tells Han that Gor is pursuing him for stealing his "toy." The Vermillion is caught by the Tribulan Vort tractor beam. The Tribulan Vort dispatches a Trivault Corp shuttle called the Chevalier to board the Vermillion. Captain Krull enters the Vermillion with two reprogrammed KX-series security droids. After exchanging pleasantries, Krull briefs them about Magernon's Amnesty. A former Imperial Sergeant named Magernon had been placed in charge of Substation Grimdock prison. However, Magernon had freed several pro-Imperial death squads and "terrorists," who contacted some of their pirate friends to pick them up. In response, the New Republic Defense Fleet blockaded Substation Grimdock to prevent them from escaping.
Captain Krull questions Han and Lando about their mission but they refuse to talk. Fortunately for them, Princess Leia contacts Krull by hologram and claims that Han, Lando, and their companions are New Republic agents taking part in a highly classified intelligence mission on behalf of the Galactic Senate. She orders Krull to provide these New Republic agents with every resource to assist them with their mission. The Captain says he owes them an apology.
====Splitting up====
As part of Captain Kull's apology, Han and Lando's team commandeer the Chevalier for their mission to stop Fyzen Gor. Speaking via hologram, Leia tells Han and Lando that the pilot Taka is an undercover New Republic bodyguard sent to help them. Han and Lando also chat with Ben Solo, who tells his dad to come back. Chewbacca and Kaasha return after returning Aro and Captain Kull back to the Tribulan Vort. They then depart Grimdock aboard the Chevalier with the Vermillion still attached to it.
With Kaasha translating, Peekpa explains that the Imperials had been tracing the Phylanx Redux Transmitter but could not get an accurate signal to deploy it. Peekpa also reveals that an Imperial commander named Admiral Ruas Fastent had spent several years tracking it but was driven mad. He received an honorable discharge a few years before the Battle of Yavin and was shoved in an Imperial asylum on Grava. She speculates that Fyzen Gor programmed the Phylanx to move in a random or at least self-determined trajectory throughout the galaxy.
Since they have two ships now, Lando splits the team. He assigns Chewbacca, Kaasha, Taka, Biggles, and Peekpa with tracking the last known transmission point of the Phylanx. Han reveals that Peekpa is so attached to Chewbacca because the Wookiee saved her sister's life during the Battle of Endor. Chewie and his team depart aboard the Vermillion while Han and Lando travel aboard the Chevalier to find Fastent on Grava, which is located in the Kallea sector.
====Guests of the Brotherhood====
Han and Lando travel on the Chevalier to the Gravan Monastery on the dusty red and orange moon of Grava. As they approach the asylum, they are attacked by the asylum's artillery defenses, which damage the shuttle's secondary thrusters. Following a rough landing, they repair the deflector shields and enter the asylum. The hooded receptionists tell them that Admiral Fastent is no longer a ward but a humble servant in their "house of peace."
At the top of a forested staircase, Han and Lando encounter the now cyborg human Braket Twelve-Twelve and a cyborg Quarren named Nine-Seven Saquanz. The two are members of a cult called the Brotherhood of Wire and Bone, whose members believe that flesh is sinful and strive to transcend the organic. Han and Lando refuse to give up their weapons, prompting more cultists to appear from the bushes. A droid introduces himself as the cult leader Balthamus, a medical droid with human hands and Number Ten of Gor's "Original Dozen."
In return for surrendering their firearms, Balthamus introduces Han and Lando to the former Admiral Fastent, who has adopted the identity Seven-Seven Dirgeos. Seven-Seven Dirgoes reveals that he ended up at the Grava asylum because he found Fyzen Gor and a sense of purpose to his menial life. Lando demands to know the location of the Phylanx but Dirgoes proposes a wager: that Lando and Han give up their limbs for their masters if they lose but that they get to keep their arms if Lando wins a game of Vazaveer. Lando wins and demands that Dirgoes he reveal the location of the Phylanx.
Honoring his side of the bargain, 7-7 Dirgoes recounts his interrogation and torture of Fyzen Gor, who did not break despite his efforts. Dirgoes tells Han that he has embraced Fyzen's ideology that droids are superior and that Fyzen plans to orchestrate a droid rebellion that will overthrow the organics so that droids can rule the galaxy. Dirgoes reveals that the Phylanx is a transmitter that Gor created to trigger droids to destroy organics by transmitting into their droid operating systems. Despite their dislike for Dirgoes, Lando convinces Han to leave peacefully.
Before leaving, Lando takes Balthamus aside and asks how he can avoid the droid apocalypse. Balthamus replies through service and sacrifice. Lando takes the opportunity to destroy the droid by shooting Balthamus' head off. Han and Lando then flee the vengeful droids aboard the Chevalier.
====Continuing the search====
Aboard the Chevalier, Lando recounts to Han how he beat 7-7 Dirgoes at the game of Vazaveer through the strategic application of a metal Octopent. After wiring Balthamus' head onto a holoprojector, Lando discovers that Gor had been using them to track down the location of the Phylanx. He deduces that Gor purposely planted clues sending him and Lando to the Grava Monastery. They also realize that Gor is also tracking their comrades aboard the Vermillion.
While traveling through space, Han and Lando encounter Peekpa in an escape pod. Unable to speak Galactic Basic Standard, she gives them two datacards. The first datacard contains a holorecording of Taka's parents who perished during destruction of Alderaan. The second recording is a distress transmission from Kaasha who warns them that Gor has hacked into the Vermillion systems and is trying to board the ship. Kaasha affirms her love for Lando as the ship is boarded.
Han tries to contact Leia by holoprojector, warning her that Gor has a weapon that can turn droids into killers. However, the signal does not get through due to their remote location. Tracking the Vermillion, Han and Lando exit hyperspace in the Mesulan Remnants Belt. After explaining the history of ice asteroid field to Han, Lando deduces that the Remnants Belt is capable of migrating since it was not at its previous coordinates. Lando realizes that Gor programmed the Phylanx to move with the shards of ice to keep it from being detected.
Gor had also programmed the Phylanx to transmit at regular intervals so that only someone with the coordinates to match the transmission would be able to pinpoint its exact location. Han realizes that Gor hijacked the Vermillion in order to get access to the transmission data.
With Peekpa's help, Han and Lando pursue the hijacked Vermillion in the Chevalier, dodging the transport's laser cannons. While Peekpa tries to hack into the Vermillion computers, Han tells Lando to suit up in case Peekpa can't regain control of the ship.
====Pursuing Gor and rescuing the team====
Following a brief laser battle, Gor contacts Han via holoscreen. After trading barbs, Gor reminds Han of his plan to bring about a droid apocalypse. Han's morale is lifted when Taka, who has managed to evacuate with the others into the emergency security room, manages to play a song by Snograth and the Mogwars on the ship's sound system, irritating Gor. With Gor distracted, Peekpa is able to hack into the ship's cockpit and eject Gor into space.
Gor escapes in his spacesuit and Lando pursues him through the Mesulan ice belt. While rocketing through the asteroid field, Gor contacts Calrissian through his spacesuit's comm system, chiding him for his lack of gratitude that he spared his life at the Gravan Monastery. Lando counters that he won't let Gor turn his droids into a bunch of killers.
Gor reveals that he has managed to hack into Calrissian Enterprises' system-wide operation data as well as the data belonging to its predecessor company, VylarTech. Gor boasts that he can use the Phylanx to hack into tens of thousands of droids produced by those two companies in order to bring about his droid rebellion. Lando fears that this could bring about the collapse of the New Republic and endanger Han's family. Two of Fyzen's droids, who have been enhanced with Wookiee body parts, pursue Calrissian through the ice belt.
Han lines up the Chevalier beside the Vermillion, dodging the hijacked ship's defenses. Han uses the Chevalier to scrape off a small spherical droid that Gor has been using to hijack the Vermillion systems. After boarding the ship, he is greeted by Taka and their pet worrt Korrg. Taka tells Han that Gor's droid caused a backup and ruptured one of their ship's gas lines. Having place Korrg aboard then Chevalier, he reunites with Chewie and the others, who evacuate aboard the Chevalier.
Meanwhile, Lando spots Gor and his droids in the distance. He shoots Gor but one of his droids takes the blow for his master. Gor and his remaining droids then flee deeper into the Mesulan Remnants. Lando is attacked by one of Gor's Wookiee droids but is saved by Chewbacca, who has come out to look for him. Lando is also contacted by a mysterious droid, who asks for his help. Lando thinks the droid is the late L3-37. Just then, Gor and his droids are attacked by members of the Elthree Assault Team
====Skirmish in the Mesulan Remnants====
Han and the rest of the team witness the Elthree Assault Team fight Gor's droids in the Mesulan Ice Remnants. Han's team also come under attack from several infected KX-series security droid. While Kaasha fights them off, Han, Taka, and Peekpa decide to find a secondary power source into order to activate the ship's cockpit override controls.
In the ice asteroid belt, Lando encounters the mysterious voice, who reveals him as the Phylanx Redux Transmitter. The Phylanx tells Lando that it is a transmitter and asks Lando to destroy him in order to prevent Gor from unleashing his droid apocalypse on the galaxy. He also tells Lando to prevent Gor from escaping in two nearby F-99 gunships that have been programmed with the operational capacity to capture and store the kill order once it has been released from his system. As Lando enters the junk silo housing the droid, the Phylanx reveals that it is intending to abort its mission since it is no longer comfortable with is master's programming instructions.
Aboard the Chevalier, Han and his team split up while they make their way to the secondary control panel, battling twenty armed KX security droids. While Han and Taka are making their way through the corridor near the weapons hold, they are attacked by rogue security droids. Florx comes to the rescue and hurls three grenades at the droids. Han and his team make it to the cockpit. With Kaasha unable to reach the override control, Han heads to the main hold and tells Peekpa to man the controls.
====Defeating Gor's conspiracy====
Meanwhile, Lando discovers that the asteroid is the same one which he and L3 had stumbled upon fifteen years earlier. Calrissian finds the Phylanx inside a small wall compartment. The droid introduces itself as the class 1 medical droid which Gor had renamed Number One. Just then, Gor enters the chamber with the transmitter device that activates the virus program in the discarded droids around them. Unable to convince Lando to join his cause, Gor instead reveals that he has embedded an activator into his body. Despite the Phylanx's protests, Gor inserts the activator into a compartment beneath the Phylanx's head, activating the transmitter.
As a result, many droids across the galaxy including the Solo family's butler droid BX-778 are infected with the kill virus. After entering the main hold, Han comforts Taka after learning that the holo was from their parents. The two are attacked by infected KX security droids but Taka's pet worrt Korrg helps to take out several of the droids. Han fends off the droids while Taka works on activating the ship's secondary power source.
While Gor is distracted with activating the Phylanx drive, Lando takes the opportunity to attach four thermal detonators to his jetpack and hurl it at the drive. This causes an explosion that destroys the transmitter. The destruction of the Phylanx transmitter disables the rogue KX security droids, allow Han's team to retake control of the Chevalier. On Chandrila, BX-778 is about to kill Han's son Ben Solo but the transmitter's destruction neutralizes the virus programming. In the Mesulan asteroid belt, Lando is rescued from the exploding junk hold by members of the Elthree Assault Team.
Fyzen Gor survives the explosion and escapes in an F-99 gunship. Han uses the Chevalier torpedoes and laser cannons to destroy Gor's ship, killing the rogue scientist. Gor's body is disintegrated by a burst of cannon fire.
====Homeward bound====
Following the skirmish, Chewbacca recovers the limbs of his murdered Wookiee kin. Lando reappears with three members of the Elthree Assault Team. As Lando recovers aboard the Chevalier, the droids explain that their maker L3-37 planted a revirus in the Phylanx which counteracted the virus that Gor had implanted. L3 then used the information she gathered from her interaction with the Phylanx transmitter to build a copy of herself, which then built the rest of the Elthree Assault Team, droids that were resistant to Gor's homicidal droid virus.
When the retrovirus finally took over the Phylanx, it began shedding junk across the galaxy in an effort to self-destruct and alert the galaxy to its existence. The Elthree Assault Team finally picked up the Phylanx's distress signal but it took a while for them together back together and located the Phylanx. They reached the Mesulan Ice Belt and were caught up in a skirmish with Gor's Original Dozen squad. Lando is grateful for their support and bids them farewell. One droid wants to fight crime while another wants to take a vacation.
Han chats with his wife, Leia, and son, Ben, via hologram as the Chevalier travels back to Chandrila with the Vermillion in tow. Leia is glad that her husband, Lando, and their team are safe. In private, Han reaffirms his love for Leia and Ben but confides that he struggles to be a parent and to find a purpose with his life. Leia encourages her husband not to give up. Despite their differences, the two agree to spend more time together as a couple.
Later, on Chandrila, Lando buys an elaborate green-and-silver top woven with firestone gems for his girlfriend Kaasha from a Saurin merchant in Frander's Bay. Lando tells Kaasha that he is both a hero and a scoundrel. Lando also returns the sack of Vazaveer fichas that he stole from the Toydarian diviner Poppy Delu, who asks them if he can predict their future. Lando declines the offer and says that he and Kaasha will figure out their destiny together.
==Continuity==
The chapter segments dealing with young Lando and L3-37 flying the Millennium Falcon are said to take place about 15 years before the present-day events, which take place two years after the Battle of Jakku. This places the young-Lando segments around 8 BBY; however, they must take place before Lando's appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which occurs in 10 BBY. Furthermore, when characters in the "present" section of the story start referring to Lando's earlier encounter with Fyzen Gor, they consistently mention it was 12 years ago, not 15. Star Wars: Timelines later dated the Lando segments to around 11 BBY.
Similarly, the chapter segments dealing with young Han Solo and Sana Starros are said to take place about 10 years before the present-day events, placing them in 3 BBY, when Han should be 29. However, Han tells Maz Kanata that he is "well into [his] early twenties." Timelines later dated these events to around 3 BBY.
At one point, Prita Sven is referred to as a Vice Admiral instead of a Vice Grand Administrator.
==Media==
===Editions===
*; April 17, 2018; Del Rey; US hardcover
*; April 17, 2018; Del Rey; US hardcover, Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition
*; April 17, 2018; Del Rey; US eBook
*; April 17, 2018; Del Rey; Signed edition
*; May 24, 2018; Del Rey; Phoenix Comic Fest & Denver Comic Con 2018 Limited Edition hardcover
*; October 30, 2018; Del Rey; US paperback
===Cover gallery===
File:Last_Shot_Han_cover.jpg|Hardcover, side A
File:LastShot-CoverArt.png|Side A cover art
File:Last_Shot_Lando_cover.jpg|Hardcover, side B
File:LastShotBNExclusive.jpg|Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition
File:Last_Shot_Chewbacca_and_L3-37_covers.jpg|Phoenix/Denver Comic Con Exclusive Edition
File:LastShot-Paperback.png|Paperback
File:LastShot-BNHanPoster.jpg|Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition insert, side A
File:LastShot-BNLandoPoster.jpg|Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition insert, side B
File:Letzte_Chance.jpg|German cover- Letzte Chance
File:LastShotFrench.jpg|French cover
File:ChewieLastShot.jpg|Chewbacca cover
==Appearances==
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Canon adult novels