Han Solo

"*Never tell me the odds.*"
―Han Solo
**Han Solo**, known only as **Han** until being given the surname **Solo** by an Imperial recruitment officer, and formerly known as **Cadet 124-329** while serving as an Imperial cadet, was a human male smuggler. He became a leader in the Alliance to Restore the Republic and an instrumental figure in the defeat of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. He hailed from Corellia and became a smuggler, even completing the Kessel Run in just twelve parsecs with his prized ship, the *Millennium Falcon*, and coming under the employ of Jabba the Hutt. Solo ran afoul of Jabba after ditching a shipment of spice to avoid trouble with the Empire, owing the Hutt a great deal of money as a result. His fortune seemed to have changed when he agreed to charter Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO to Alderaan, but he became caught up in the rebellion against the Empire and, after helping Princess Leia Organa escape from the Death Star, briefly fought in the Battle of Yavin, which allowed Skywalker to destroy the superweapon. Solo fought with the Rebellion for a number of years afterward, taking part in numerous operations and battles against the Empire.

After the Battle of Hoth, Solo sought refuge with Organa—with whom he had fallen in love—Chewbacca, and C-3PO on Cloud City, which was operated by his old friend Lando Calrissian. There, they were captured by the Sith Lord Darth Vader as part of a trap to bait Skywalker to the city. Solo was frozen in carbonite and taken to Jabba's Palace on Tatooine by the bounty hunter Boba Fett, where he remained encased in carbonite for a year until he was rescued by his friends. After returning to the Alliance Fleet, Solo was promoted to the rank of general and was given command of the Pathfinders, a special forces squad, for the Battle of Endor. Solo led the Pathfinders to Endor, where he, Organa, Chewbacca, and the special forces team, with the help of the native Ewoks, destroyed the shield generator protecting the second Death Star that was being constructed in orbit. Their actions allowed the Alliance Fleet to destroy the superweapon.

The Battle of Endor, which saw the deaths of Emperor Sheev Palpatine and Darth Vader, allowed the Rebellion to form the New Republic. In the early days after Endor, Solo continued to lead the Pathfinders against the Empire. He married Organa, and they had two children, Ben and Breha Solo. Ben struggled with the dark side of the Force—like his mother, who was the daughter of Darth Vader and twin sister of Luke Skywalker, Ben was Force-sensitive—so Organa sent him to be trained as a Jedi by Skywalker. He was seduced to the dark side by Snoke, Supreme Leader of the First Order, resulting in the destruction of Skywalker's attempt to rebuild the Jedi Order.

Having lost their son, Solo left and returned to smuggling, and even lost the Millennium Falcon to numerous thieves. He continued to smuggle until he was brought back into the fight by a scavenger named Rey and a defected First Order stormtrooper named Finn, who carried with them a droid, BB-8, that had part of a map to Skywalker's location. Solo, who retrieved the Falcon from Rey and Finn, returned to Organa, who led the Resistance against the First Order, and fought in the battle to destroy the First Order superweapon known as Starkiller Base. During the battle, Solo saw his son, who had taken the name Kylo Ren, and tried to convince him to return home. Instead, Ren stabbed his father with his lightsaber. Mortally wounded, Solo fell to his death in the bowels of the Starkiller weapon. However, Solo's heroic memory survived and his spirit remained alive. Solo appeared a year later to convince Ren to abandon the dark side and defeat the resurrected Emperor Palpatine, after a duel on the remains of the second Death Star between Rey and Ren, being enough for Ben Solo to return and eventually sacrifice his own life to help Rey end Darth Sidious and the Sith for good.

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## Biography

### Early life

"*I came up running scams on the streets of Corellia.*"
―Han Solo
Han was born on the planet Corellia during the waning years of the Galactic Republic in 32 BBY. Sometime after he became famous, it would be rumored by an Snivvian bounty hunter that Han was actually a descendant of the Prince-Admiral Jonashe Solo, a member of the ancient Corellian royalty. During his formative years, his father worked in the Corellian Engineering Corporation shipyards, building vessels such as YT-1300 light freighters until he was laid off. Solo's father wished he could leave Corellia on such a ship, but was never able to afford to. According to Han, he was never close with his father. At one point his father brought him to the freighter factory where he worked and pointed out to the young Han that the ships being built there were his contributions to the galaxy, but that they ultimately didn't matter. He advised him that he wasn't meant to build ships, but rather to fly them. Eventually, his parents disappeared, leaving Han to fend for himself.

#### Working for the White Worms

"*Next time somebody hits me, I hit them back!*"
―Han threatens Rebolt
Sometime later, Han became involved with the criminal gang known as the White Worms, serving as a scrumrat. Here, Han met fellow scrumrat Qi'ra. Despite being in service to the gang, Han showed considerable defiance towards them.

Sometime later, Han and Qi'ra began a romantic relationship. Acting under orders from Lady Proxima, Han set up a deal with some individuals to exchange coaxium for credits. Qi'ra suggested that Han shouldn't go alone, but both Proxima and Han disagreed with her. Upon meeting with the individuals, Han got into a fight with them due to having not abided by their stated terms and proceeded to escape with an extremely valuable vial of coaxium, as well as a speeder. Han attempted to take Qi'ra with him, but both were captured by the White Worms, and brought before crime boss Lady Proxima. Han threw a rock through a window, allowing the sunlight to burn Proxima's skin.

In the confusion, Han and Qi'ra escaped to the Imperial checkpoint, where they used the coaxium to bribe the officer on duty to let them through. Han was able to make it through, but at that moment Qi'ra was spotted and the officer closed the doors. As Qi'ra was pulled away, Han promised to come back to save her. Qi'ra was captured by the White Worms, and Han began to try to find a way to save her. As he looked around the center, he spotted an Imperial recruitment center.

### Serving under the Galactic Empire

#### Becoming "Han Solo"

"*Good luck Han Solo. We'll have you flying in no time.*"
―Drawd Munbrin to Han, shortly after giving him the name Solo

Immediately after losing Qi'ra, Han entered the area and tried to enlist in the Imperial Navy. When asked what his last name was, Han responded that he had no people and was alone. Due to this he was assigned the name "Solo" by recruitment officer Drawd Munbrin. His goal was to become a skilled pilot and eventually return to Corellia to find Qi'ra.

#### Life as an Imperial cadet

"*Cadet Solo. Still can't decide if you're brave or stupid.*"
―Almudin, to Han Solo
Three years later, during an attack by raiders on Onyx Squadron, Han disobeyed orders once more in order to save the life of Cadet Lyttan Dree. Solo was able to take out three raiders before crashing into a hangar. Unfortunately, Solo's crash completely destroyed the hangar. This action led to him being court-martialed and tried by Commodore Almudin. Solo was expelled from the academy, drafted into the 224th Imperial Armored Division as a Corporal, and deployed to an active combat zone on Mimban.

#### The Mimban campaign

During the Mimban Campaign, Solo experienced the horrors of war firsthand. Mimban was a world highly sought after by the Imperial war machine due to its abundance of natural resources, leading the Empire to launch a full-scale invasion of the planet. The brutality of the battlefield shook the former cadet to his core, witnessing countless fellow soldiers senselessly die right before his eyes during the subjugation of a peaceful world. Solo's commanding officer, Major Staz, was killed by an explosion during a desperate push into fortified enemy territory, leading the demoralized Solo to retreat and encounter Tobias Beckett, Val, and Rio Durant, a gang of thieves who had disguised themselves as Imperial Army troopers to pull a heist. Solo was initially beguiled, but soon discerned their true identities. He noticed Beckett and his crew had blaster burns in some parts of their uniforms. Solo threatened to expose them if they didn't take him with them, but Beckett instead reported Solo to his superiors for insubordination.

The Imperial Lieutenant Alayus Bolandin decided to execute Solo by giving him to "the beast," the Wookiee Chewbacca, a prisoner of the Empire. Solo used his knowledge of Shyriiwook to convince Chewbacca to stage a fight with him, allowing them to escape imprisonment. They then managed to join a reluctant Beckett's crew. Chewbacca, grateful for Solo's intervention, proclaimed a life debt to the outlaw. Chewbacca thereby became Solo's lifelong friend.

### A new life

#### Working for Crimson Dawn

##### Vandor and encounter with Crimson Dawn

Han Solo and Chewbacca began their outlaw lives working as part of pirate Tobias Beckett's crew. The group were hired by Crimson Dawn to steal a train car of refined coaxium on Vandor. However, they failed due to the intervention of Enfys Nest and the Cloud-Riders, and Solo's decision to drop the cargo. Solo and Chewbacca promised Dryden Vos of Crimson Dawn an equivalent shipment that they would obtain unrefined by making the notorious Kessel Run. Vos sent Qi'ra, who had become his top lieutenant, with them.

##### The Kessel Run

Knowing they would need a fast ship to transport the coaxium before it degraded and exploded, Qi'ra introduced the pair to the self-proclaimed galactic entrepreneur and gambler Lando Calrissian. Solo played Calrissian in a game of "Corellian Spike" sabacc, with the stakes being Calrissian's YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon. Solo lost the game due to Calrissian hiding cards up his sleeve. Regardless, Calrissian agreed to personally pilot the Falcon for the job in return for a cut of the profits.

Solo, Chewbacca, Qi’ra, Calrissian, and Beckett stole the unrefined coaxium from Kessel during a slave riot instigated by Calrissian’s navigational droid, L3-37. During the escape, Solo flew the Falcon, with Chewbacca as his copilot, for the first of many times. Because the crew stole the coaxium fuel as unrefined, it was necessary to make the escape from Kessel to the refinery on Savareen in record time, prompting Solo to plot a shorter, and much more dangerous course through the maelstrom that surrounded Kessel and near a gravity well called the Maw, reducing the typical distance required from 20 to 12 parsecs.

##### Savareen

Upon reaching Savareen and refining the coaxium, the crew was confronted by Enfys Nest, who explained to them that the Cloud-Riders were not pirates but freedom fighters stirred to action by the atrocities committed by Crimson Dawn and the other crime syndicates. Solo devised a plan to give the coaxium to the Cloud-Riders and give Vos fake coaxium, but Vos was prepared for their betrayal because of information given to him by his double agent in the crew, Beckett.

However, Solo had double-crossed Beckett and Vos: the containers he left with the Cloud-Riders were empty, and Nest dispatched the agents Vos sent to retrieve it. The coaxium Solo, Qi'ra, and Chewbacca brought to Vos was, in fact, genuine. Beckett managed to escape with the coaxium and Chewbacca as a hostage. Qi'ra betrayed and killed Vos, promising to follow Solo as he pursued Beckett. Solo found and killed Beckett, but could only watch as Qi'ra left him behind, leaving Savareen in Vos' yacht to meet Crimson Dawn leader Maul. Solo entrusted the coaxium to Nest, who intended to use it to form a rebellion against the Empire. She gave him a small portion of the coaxium "to find his way."

Solo and Chewbacca tracked down Calrissian on Numidian Prime. While greeting Lando with an overly exuberant facade, Solo swiped the spare cards Lando held up his sleeve. With Lando's magic charm in his possession, Solo confidently challenged him to a rematch of sabacc for the *Falcon*. Using the stolen cards to his advantage, Solo won the rematch and gained possession of the *Millennium Falcon*, much to Lando's chagrin.

The Falcon instantly became Solo's most prized possession. With their newly acquired ship and confidence, Solo and Chewbacca began engaging in much more dangerous and risky criminal operations, eventually becoming smugglers. Around the same time, Chewbacca hung Han's pair of chance cubes above the freighter's piloting console. At some point during their travels the two met Dash Rendar.

worked for Jabba.

Solo and Chewbacca also became acquainted with the infamous Tonnika sisters, but the many events that occurred between both parties left their relationship soured. One event—remembered by the sisters as the "Lando ordeal"—was Solo's idea, but he blamed them for what happened. Calrissian's business partner, Lobot, also became familiar with Solo.

Following their departure from Savareen, Chewie and Solo paired up on various jobs, including one where they were riding a 74-Z speeder bike under fire and another where Solo was tied up. Eventually, they found their way to Numidian Prime.

han grew

hans heart hardened

### Galactic Civil War

#### The beginning

##### A fateful business venture

"*Seventeen-thousand! Those guys must really be desperate—this could really save my neck. Get back to the ship, get her ready.*"
―Han Solo, to Chewbacca, after meeting with Kenobi and Skywalker

After dropping a cargo of Kessel spice they were smuggling for Jabba, Solo and Chewbacca had a 50,000-credit bounty placed on their heads. In trying to pay off Jabba, they traveled to Chalmun's Cantina on Tatooine, where they looked for work. While Chewbacca left the table, Solo took the opportunity to flirt with a B-girl named Jenny. She sat on Solo's lap and the two witnessed a bar brawl between the exiled Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the criminals Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan, who had physically assaulted Luke Skywalker, leading Kenobi to cut off Baba's arm with his lightsaber. As Chewbacca joined them, Jenny left so Solo could do business.

Afterwards, Kenobi and Skywalker made their way to Solo's booth, Kenobi having talked with Chewie before the brawl. They arrived and began negotiating. Solo assured Kenobi that the *Millennium Falcon* was the fastest ship around, because it had made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. Kenobi informed Solo that the cargo was only himself, Skywalker, two droids, and no questions asked beyond an admission that they wanted to avoid Imperials entirely. Therefore, Solo set the price at 10,000 credits—higher than he normally would have. However, Kenobi raised Solo's bid to 17,000 credits: 2,000 in advance and 15,000 when they reached Alderaan. His interest piqued at such a sum offered when it was so needed, Solo quickly accepted the deal. The smuggler then told his temporary employer to meet him in Docking Bay 94 for departure as soon as he was ready, before warning Kenobi that some Imperial sandtroopers had entered the cantina and were looking for Evazan and Baba's attacker. Kenobi and Skywalker hastily fled, leaving Solo to express his elation to Chewbacca at having garnered such a high-paying job to pay off Jabba. Chewbacca left as well right after.

As Solo got up to leave, he was confronted by Greedo, who demanded to be paid Jabba's debt, or he would take Solo's dead body back to Jabba as payment. Solo, then, in self defense, covertly pulled his DL-44 blaster pistol and shot Greedo from under the table before Greedo had a chance to react, killing the Rodian. Solo tossed Wuher, the cantina's bartender, some credit chips, before apologising for leaving a mess and then heading to Docking Bay 94.

Solo arrived in the docking and found Jabba himself, with several of his guards—including Jabba's top bounty hunter Boba Fett—looking for him near the *Falcon*. Jabba inquired whether Solo was going to pay him, and why he had "fried poor Greedo." Jabba was disappointed in having to put the bounty on Solo, the crime lord's top smuggler. Solo insisted he had had no choice but to dump the cargo, and informed the Hutt that he had secured a charter that would be able to compensate the Hutt's loss in full as soon as he completed it. Jabba was pleased and added that if Solo paid twenty percent interest all could be forgotten, but Solo talked him down to fifteen percent, and ironically stated that the Hutt was a "wonderful Human being," before boarding the *Falcon*.

A short time later, Kenobi, Skywalker, and their two droids, the protocol droid C-3PO and the astromech droid R2-D2, boarded the *Falcon* after Skywalker remarked that the *Falcon* appeared to be a "piece of junk." Solo corrected him: The *Millennium Falcon* looked out of shape, but had been given "special modifications" that made it one of the fastest ships in the galaxy. Just then, a squad of stormtroopers appeared in the docking bay and opened fire on Solo. Solo fired back while retreating on board and shouted for Chewbacca to take off. The *Falcon* blasted away from the Mos Eisley spaceport and clear of Tatooine. As the *Falcon* entered space, Solo realised that his passengers were even more wanted by the Empire than he thought as multiple Star Destroyers pursued his ship. Trying to dodge Imperial fire while addressing the boy's annoying backseat badgering about the necessity of proper navigation for travel through hyperspace, Solo inserted coordinates to the Alderaan system into the *Falcon*'s navigation computer and made the jump to hyperspace, escaping their pursuers.

While en route to Alderaan, Solo boasted of outrunning the "Imperial slugs," but was annoyed when no one would humor him, considering Luke was concerned with Kenobi who himself was troubled by a great disturbance in the Force resulting from what turned out to be the destruction of Alderaan. Chewbacca and R2-D2, often shortened to Artoo, were playing a game of Dejarik when Artoo outplayed the Wookiee, so Solo warned the droids not to upset him because Wookiee rage was not something C-3PO, often shortened to Threepio, a droid programmed in protocol, would want to experience. Skywalker, meanwhile, trained with a remote with his lightsaber, trying to deflect the sting bolts with the civilised weapon. Solo was skeptical of the Force—the energy field that connected all living things in the galaxy, and the Jedi, like Kenobi, were able to use to perform seemingly supernatural feats—because in all his travels he had never seen proof of its existence; to Solo, it was all "simple tricks and nonsense." Kenobi put a helmet over Luke's face so he couldn't see the remote. Skywalker tried to deflect the bolts again, and did, while unable to see. Solo was mildly impressed, but attributed Skywalker's ability to luck.

Soon, the *Falcon* emerged from hyperspace in the Alderaan system. The *Falcon* came out at Alderaan's galactic coordinates, but into a meteor shower, with Alderaan nowhere in sight. Kenobi realised the asteroid field was Alderaan: The entire planet had been destroyed by the Empire. Solo couldn't believe the Empire had had enough firepower to do so, even with their entire fleet, but then an Imperial short-range TIE fighter appeared, seemingly confirming Kenobi's suspicions. Skywalker and Solo both worried that if the fighter identified them as the freighter that had blasted away from Tatooine, they would be damned. Therefore, Solo got in range to destroy it. Kenobi, however, argued against it before Solo realised that the fighter did have a base—what appeared to be a small moon in the distance. Kenobi quickly surmised that the body was not a moon, but an Imperial space station, the Death Star battle station equipped with a superlaser capable of destroying entire planets. Solo was shocked at the Death Star's 120-kilometre spherical diameter and prepared to turn the *Falcon* around and retreat. One of the station's tractor beams, however, began to pull the *Falcon* in. Solo prepared to fight his way out once they were taken aboard and shut the freighter down. As the space station's tractor beam pulled them in, Kenobi told Solo not to resist, saying there were alternatives to fighting. The crew then ejected the *Falcon*'s five Model CEC Class-1 escape pods and hid themselves in the *Falcon*'s smuggling compartments located under the floor.

##### Rescuing the Princess of Alderaan

"*Wonderful girl! Either I'm gonna kill her, or I'm beginning to like her!*"
―Han Solo to Luke Skywalker, after Leia Organa took the lead in their escape
The freighter was pulled into Docking Bay 327 where it was boarded and quickly searched by stormtroopers on the orders of Darth Vader, the Emperor's chief enforcer and a Dark Lord of the Sith. After the troopers left, Solo and the others emerged from the compartments and Kenobi devised a plan to disable the tractor beam from inside the station. As they worked out the plan's details, an Imperial scanning crew came aboard to more thoroughly search the ship. Solo shot them and then impersonated the crew, yelling out to a pair of stormtroopers outside for assistance. They came, Solo shot them, and he and Skywalker dressed themselves in their armor.

Skywalker, now under the guise trooper TK-421, fooled an officer into opening the door to the hangar's control room. Chewbacca and Solo cut down the officer and his comrades, while Artoo plugged into a computer terminal to locate the tractor beam controls. Artoo found them and Kenobi departed to disable it after commanding the others to stay in the control room. Solo was fine with staying; he'd gotten much more than he had signed on for in the cantina. Artoo, however, had learned that Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan and a leading member of the Rebel Alliance, was aboard the station, and was scheduled to be executed in Detention Block AA-23 very soon. Skywalker insisted that they go rescue her, and reasoned that if Kenobi had known she was present, he would have gone after her, too. Solo at first refused, but decided it was worth the risk when Skywalker assured him there would be a huge reward from the Rebel Alliance if she was rescued. Skywalker quickly worked out a subterfuge to bluff their way into the prison using Chewbacca as a prisoner scheduled for a prisoner transfer.

Soon thereafter, they set out to the fifth level of the Death Star with their "prisoner" in stuncuffs and left the droids behind. They arrived at the detention level and told the officer in charge, Shann Childsen, of the supposed transfer. He went to check the legitimacy of the fake stormtroopers' claim, while other troopers went to detain the Wookiee. Chewbacca, per the plan, attacked. Solo kept up the charade while firing on the guards and security cameras. Solo located the princess's cell in the prison computer and sent Skywalker to get her while he tried to convince an officer, Ensign Toos, that nothing had gone wrong via a comm system, before giving up and shooting the panel when the tech saw through the ruse and sent stormtroopers to investigate.

The troopers blockaded the only exit to the detention block and attacked. Solo and Chewbacca returned fire while they retreated to Skywalker's position. Skywalker had gotten the princess, who critiqued their plan to rescue her without thinking through an escape route. Solo quipped that she was welcome to return to her cell and be executed rather than rescued if she desired, while they took cover in the corridor and traded fire with the Imperials. Organa lost patience with the three men, took a blaster and shot open a chute and dove in after telling the others to follow. Solo remarked to Skywalker that he wasn't sure if he was very frustrated with Organa, or if he was beginning to like her, and shoved Chewbacca into the chute. Skywalker and Solo followed right after.

They found themselves in a garbage compactor with the only exit locked. Solo sarcastically told Organa great work in getting them nowhere and tried to shoot the open the exit. The laser bounced wildly around the compactor, nearly hitting the rebels. Skywalker informed Solo that he had already tried it, that it was magnetically sealed. Organa commanded Solo to put his blaster away. Solo was unhappy at being ordered around, and claimed he had the entire situation under control until Organa intervened. Just then, a low growl sounded; the four simultaneously realized they weren't alone. A moment later, a tentacle belonging to a dianoga grabbed Skywalker and pulled him under water. Solo and Organa frantically searched for him, and seconds later he reemerged. Solo grabbed Skywalker and tried to shoot the creature, but Skywalker was pulled under again. Solo had almost given up looking when the dianoga released him and vanished. Solo helped him up, before the walls of the compactor began to close in. Chewbacca the princess and Solo tried to brace them while Skywalker contacted the droids in order for Artoo to hack into the station's network and shut down the compactor. After Threepio eventually heard their call, he told the astromech to shut all the compactors down, which Artoo succeeded in doing. The three Humans and the Wookiee rejoiced, for their lives had been saved.

They left the compactor and Skywalker and Solo took off the trooper armor. As they did so, Chewbacca heard strange noises coming from the compactor and ran away. Solo fired a laser blast into the compactor to prove that the Wookiee was acting with cowardice. Organa scolded him for making so much noise, and told him that he would have to take orders from her if they were going to survive the ordeal. Solo was appalled at Organa's demeanor, and informed "her worshipfulness" that he only took orders from himself. Leaving Organa to quip that it was amazing that the smuggler was still alive. Solo looked at Skywalker and muttered that no reward was worth putting up with the princess's attitude.

As the group made their way back towards the docking bay, they ran into a group of stormtroopers. Solo yelled for Skywalker and Organa to go to the *Falcon* while he and his first mate charged the troopers. The troopers turned and ran from the screaming smuggler. Solo, however, ran into the troopers' reinforcements, and then he was being chased. He ran back into the hangar and through a blast door as it closed, stopping the troopers who had pursued him and Chewbacca. Solo caught up with Skywalker and Organa, who had also run into some trouble, and they prepared to board the *Falcon*, but several stormtroopers stood guard outside. The troopers, however, rushed to Darth Vader, who was locked in lightsaber combat with Kenobi. The group took advantage of the distraction Kenobi had created to rush aboard the freighter—except for Skywalker, who stopped. Kenobi saw that Skywalker and the others would be safe, so he let himself be cut down by the Dark Lord. Skywalker yelled in grief, alerting the troopers to their presence. The troopers opened fire, but Solo ran and started his ship, and once everyone was on board, blasted off and away from the battle station. Their troubles were not over, however: four Imperial TIE fighters were in pursuit.

Chewbacca piloted the *Falcon* in order for Skywalker and Solo to man its turrets to fight off the attackers. A dogfight ensued, where Solo and Skywalker shot down two fighters each. After Solo shot down the final Imperial fighter, he sighed in relief as they entered hyperspace to travel to Yavin 4—the location of the Rebels' hidden base. While en route to the Yavin system, Organa grimly informed Solo that the Imperials had let them escape in order to track them to the hidden base, which explained the relative ease of their escape. Solo didn't believe it had been easy and asked what information Artoo was carrying that made him so special. Organa told him: the technical readouts to the Death Star. Solo was shocked, and added that once he was rewarded, he was going to leave; he claimed he wasn't interested in the Rebels' revolution or the princess as a companion. Organa assured Solo that if all he loved was money, that's all he would receive, and stomped away. Skywalker took her place and asked the smuggler what he thought of the princess. Solo admitted she had spirit, and inquired to whether Skywalker could see Organa and Solo together. Skywalker quickly said "no," much to Solo's amusement.

##### A change of conscience

"*I knew you'd come back—I just knew it!*"
"*Well, I wasn't gonna let you get all the credit and take all the reward!*"
―Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, following the Battle of Yavin
The *Falcon* soon reached Yavin 4, where Solo and the others were welcomed; Alliance High Command had feared that Organa had died with her world. The plans within Artoo were analysed and a weakness was discovered: a two-meter wide exhaust port that led to the station's main reactor. Solo and Chewbacca attended a briefing for the Rebel pilots, including Skywalker, who were going to attack the station when it inevitably arrived. General Jan Dodonna explained that a one-man starfighter could get close enough and fire proton torpedoes into the shaft that would cause a chain reaction that would destroy the station. Solo was skeptical, thinking it suicide to even attempt. Therefore, after he was given his reward of credits, he packed up to leave, but was confronted by Skywalker who insisted he stay and fight with the Rebellion. Solo, thinking selfishly of his debt with Jabba, refused, and asked Skywalker to come with him and Chewbacca. Skywalker was dismayed with Solo's selfishness and angrily walked away. Solo called after him an old Jedi saying: "May the Force be with you." Chewbacca was disappointed with Solo's decision—he wanted to stay and fight.

Solo and Chewbacca then left Yavin 4 aboard the *Millennium Falcon*. Soon, however, Solo's conscience got the better of him, and he turned around and headed towards the Death Star, where the battle was raging. He arrived in his ship to find Skywalker in his T-65B X-wing starfighter being pursued by three TIE fighters, led by Darth Vader, in the station's meridian trench. Solo fired on the three Imperial fighters, destroying one, and causing another to panic and collide with Vader, who was sent spinning away from the battle station. Solo yelled in glee and told Skywalker to fire his torpedoes, since he was now clear to do so. Skywalker did, and it was a direct hit: The Death Star blew apart and killed everyone on board. Vader, however, escaped after regaining control of his fighter. Of the thirty Alliance ships that had participated in the battle, only three returned to the base with Solo in the *Falcon*. Solo rushed to Skywalker as he exited his fighter and congratulated him, while the princess embraced Solo for his bravery and proving there was more to him than money.

An award ceremony was held the next morning for the heroes of the battle, which included Solo. The three awardees, Solo, Skywalker and Chewbacca, walked the aisle past hundreds of Alliance personnel. They reached the stage, where Organa placed a medal around Solo's neck as he winked at her. Skywalker was given his medal and they bowed to the princess and turned as the crowd clapped for them, celebrating their victory. Footage of the Death Star's destruction leaked, enabling Lando Calrissian and Lobot to watch and realise, upon seeing the *Falcon* fly in, that Solo had taken part in the battle.

Sometime following the battle of Yavin, Solo was promoted to captain, in the Alliance Military.

At some point, Solo and his allies ran into the bounty hunter Skorr on Ord Mantel.

#### War intensifies

##### Rebel duty on Hoth

Over three years after the Death Star's destruction at Skywalker's hand at the Battle of Yavin, the Alliance established a new base in the Anoat sector on the ice planet Hoth, far from the Empire's reach. The base was aptly designated Echo Base, as it was carved into the rocky caverns of the Clabburn Range of mountains. Solo and Skywalker scouted out the land around the base on regular recon missions as a part of their duties, using reptilian tauntauns as mounts to better traverse the freezing landscape.

Solo took well to mounting and riding the tauntauns. On one occasion, Solo, under the callsign Echo Seven, was Skywalker scouting around the frozen wastes of Hoth, as was Skywalker, though the two were in separate areas. Skywalker reported to Solo that there were no life readings, but that he would investigate a meteorite that had landed nearby. Solo returned to Echo Base, where he saw Chewbacca repairing the *Falcon*. He told the Wookiee that he would be back soon to help him. Solo reported to General Carlist Rieekan that there were no signs of life, but that newly established sensors would let them know otherwise. Solo then told Rieekan that he needed to leave to pay off his debt to Jabba the Hutt. Rieekan expressed his disappointment in losing Solo, but understood that a death mark was not an easy thing to live with. Before departing, Solo approached Organa and taunted her.

Organa followed Solo, and the two had a heated conversation with Organa reminding Solo that they needed him, but Solo claiming that Organa had romantic feelings towards him. After this debate, Solo returned to help Chewbacca repair the *Falcon*. The two were soon interrupted by C-3PO, who informed Solo that Skywalker had gone missing on patrol. Riding out on a tauntaun named Murra in the midst of snowstorm, Solo found Skywalker had been attacked by a wampa. After Murra collapsed and died from the cold, Solo used Skywalker's lightsaber to cut the animal open and placed him inside to prevent him from freezing to death. After bringing Skywalker back to recover from his injuries, Solo took him to a medical bay to receive treatment. After Skywalker had used the bacta tank, Solo complimented his friend and told him to get some rest. Solo and Chewbacca later went out to investigate a signal and encountered an Imperial probe droid. Realising the Empire had discovered their location, the Rebels decided to evacuate. During the ensuing battle, Solo rescued Organa from the collapsed command center, leading her towards her transport. A tunnel collapse cut off their way there, so Solo, Chewbacca, Leia, and C-3PO escaped on the still-unrepaired *Falcon*.