The Corellian Trilogy is set 14 years after Return of the Jedi. It consists of:Ambush at CorelliaAssault on SeloniaShowdown at CenterpointPlot ***Spoilers***Ambush at CorelliaEighteen 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. Assault on SeloiniaImprisoned on the planet Corellia, Han Solo finds himself at the mercy of his evil cousin, Thrackan Sal-Solo. Thracken [sic] plans to restore the Imperial system and seize total power—no matter what the cost. Han has one chance to stop him. But to do so he must turn his back on his Human cousin and join forces with a female alien. Dracmus was arrested as a ringleader in a plot against the corrupt Human League. Now she and Han will attempt a daring escape to Selonia in time to warn Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Lando of Thracken's [sic] plan. But can Han trust the alien to keep her word?Meanwhile, other questions threaten the New Republic—and the lives of millions. Who is behind the deadly Starbuster plot? Why is someone attempting to take possession of Corellia's powerful planetary repulsors? And what is the secret behind the mysterious Centerpoint Station, an ancient, artificial world of unknown origin that has suddenly—and inexplicably—come alive? Showdown at CenterpointWhen a loyalist ship approaching Selonia is blasted out of space, Han Solo quickly realizes that rebel forces are turning planetary repulsors into weapons of immense destruction. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian manage to discover the terrifying secret of Centerpoint Station. It is the infamous Starbuster itself, and its next programmed nova, hard-wired in, is set to annihilate a chosen star, its inhabited worlds, and millions of innocent lives. There's only one way to stop it: blow up the station. But as a massive rebel fleet closes in on Centerpoint, Han, Luke and their friends will discover time is running out.Then the true leaders of the rebellion reveal their identities, and issue their final ultimatum: The New Republic must withdraw all claim to power over the entire Corellian sector. With the future of Corellian freedom at stake, Han and those loyal to the Republic must somehow resist. But how can they possibly stop the deadliest weapon the galaxy has ever known?
This book was... lackluster. It had an interesting story (stories). The first, main storyline was of the ruling family (Leia, Han, and their kids) travelling to the Corellia system, where a situation was emerging between the three races that shared the world. The second was of Lando and Luke, who were off world-hopping, trying to find Lando a rich wife.The main plotline had several subplots, about half of which were never resolved (though they may be in later books in the series). However, the things that ruined the book for me was the 'deus ex machina' moments, although they were more like the opposite.Instead of having everything miraculously work out, it seemed like everything miraculously didn't work. For example, at the end of the book, they needed a way to keep the characters from escaping... So they extended a well-known technology (that grounds spaceships) to cover several worlds, which had never been done in the Star Wars galaxy. Its pretty clear, if you read it, that the author just needed a way to end the book and still have a lot of tension. It seemed like he didn't really plan the ending out. In addition, the 'Hidden Leader', the primary villain, uses the well-known idea of the evil twin. Its technically an evil first cousin, but it seems a bit cliche.The only thing that somewhat saved this book was the concept. The general plotline was interesting, and it moved at an enjoyable, quick pace. The 2-star rating really would be more like 2.5, but it definitely would not be worth 3-stars.Yes, I will be finishing the series, but only to find out the conclusion of the tale, not because of any particular skill by the author.
What do You think about Ambush At Corellia (1995)?
Star Wars Ambush At Corellia is the first in the Corellian trilogy. Roger Macbride Allen does a great job bringing the classic Star Wars characters to life. Han, Leia, Chewbacca, Luke and Lando star in this fun filled adventure, and the Solo twins also bring fun and flavor to the tale. The story does take quite some time to get interesting, but it proves to be worth the wait. There are some excellent new characters introduced such as New Republic agent Belindi Kalenda and various other human, Selonian and Drallian characters.Over all, it's a kinda slow moving story that gets up to speed towards the end and is sure to grow in the second and third volumes of the trilogy.
—Revan97
(Minor spoilers)Others have spoken of the weak and even stupid premise of this series, and I have to agree. Our friends in Coruscant seem to have collectively turned off their brains and sent Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and the family off into danger. No reinforcements, no fleet, nothing. Sheesh. But as dumb as the setup for this series seems, I found the book entertaining. The author is very detailed in his descriptions of people and places, and introduces several new characters who are legitimately interesting. And we get more Lando Calrissian, which is always a treat; Lando discovers a side of himself he hadn't seen before, a development I am enjoying. As odd as the setup is, I didn't find the book cheesy or just plain terrible like many of the post-RoTJ SWEU books. I've started on the second book immediately, and I'm looking forward to it.
—Stephen Shores
It probably helps that in the Star Wars universe you can never go wrong with throwing a bunch of Corellians together and seeing what happens. Corellians are simply the coolest, not least because of Han Solo, but also the likes of Wedge Antilles, and myriad other Corellians introduced into the EU. This is probably why something like 97% of all non-Jedi Mary Sues are Corellian in some way (and then there are the rare species, the Corellian Jedi, like Corran Horn).The Corellian Trilogy is interesting for a few reasons. Most of all it's really the first time where any of the Solo children are actual characters, rather than just plot devices (although they have some of this too, as I recall). Han back on his home turf is interesting.Plus there's what basically amounts to Lando Calrissian's season of The Bachelor running through the whole trilogy, and how can that not be hilarious? Especially since the first one he meets is basically a vampire who wants to kill him! Oh, that Lando. At least he doesn't have his heart set on Mara Jade any more.
—Mark
