Let's Read: The Han Solo Adventures (1979)

[The Glyphstone]

Moving small cargos legitimately between cities is literally what U-Haul's entire business model is built on.

[Wintermoot]

Moving small cargos legitimately between cities is literally what U-Haul's entire business model is built on.

Han Solo and Chewbacca: College Hunks Moving Company.

When the princess of Alderaan needs to empty her dorm room after the evil empire has kicked her out of death star college for bad grades, she is too afraid to tell her parents and petitions her uncle Obi-wan for help! Problem is, old obi-wan only has a honda civic. Thankfully, the heroic Han Solo and Chewbacca can come to her aid.

[The Glyphstone]

Han Solo and Chewbacca: College Hunks Moving Company.

When the princess of Alderaan needs to empty her dorm room after the evil empire has kicked her out of death star college for bad grades, she is too afraid to tell her parents and petitions her uncle Obi-wan for help! Problem is, old obi-wan only has a honda civic. Thankfully, the heroic Han Solo and Chewbacca can come to her aid.

I'd watch that.

But really. This intractable war between you two gets a lot softer if we get rid of the pickup truck analogy and replace it with a white panel van or moving truck. You can make that chassis into a cargo transport, a passenger shuttle, a smuggling vehicle, all variants off the same basic pattern.

[Wintermoot]

I'd watch that.

The best part is in season one, she falls in love with the temp kid Han hires for the move Luke. Then it gets icky in season 2 when we find out he's her brother. Those season 2 writers, man, they really went off the rails.

[pendell]

Regarding the logistics of light freighters, including the Millennium Falcon, it's true that they don't make sense by the standards of 2023. However, Star Wars doesn't operate based on the standards of 2023, in fact, it barely manages to approach those of 1923! This is important, because there was a massive post-WWII revolution in logistics that simply doesn't apply to the Star Wars universe. Containerized cargo, 18-wheelers, ubiquitous paved roads, reinforced concrete bridges, universal docking cranes, etc. Star Wars does not possess the equivalent of any of these things.

Instead, light freighters are meant to be equivalent of the small, extremely hardy trucks used in rough regions like the American West, Africa, and Asia during the first half of the 20th century. For example, these:


These trucks are from the Mongolian expedition of Roy Chapman Andrews (the real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, so extremely relevant to the mindset of George Lucas) in 1922. Note how small they are and how comparatively little cargo space they have? The Falcon is meant to represent this kind of vehicle. One that roams between the major hubs, acquires a collection of bespoke goods, and then fulfills the needs of shopkeepers, traders, and craftsmen in small, isolated settlements. Significantly, on most planets the larger class of bulk carriers can't even land.

If the Falcon were engaged in legitimate trade on Tatooine, what it would do is make run after run back and forth from Arkanis - the sector capital on the Corellian Run super-hyperlane - filling up the holds with probably 1000+ different items of low bulk and high value (probably lots of machine parts, alcoholic beverages, and pharmaceuticals) that he'd then sell to 10-20 different stores in Mos Eisley.

This is a great contribution, and I think you're mostly on the money, but not quite.

I think the Star Wars universe does have that logistic revolution. The Perlemian Trade Route . The Correlian Run. The Hydian Way . These and approximately a dozen other major hyper-trade routes are what define the Republic and the Empire. They are the equivalent of modern super highways; I would expect the major worlds along these routes to be able to process and deliver very large ships like the Lucrehulk, which exist in canon. Then you could have smaller freighters to carry goods from the major depots to the outlying worlds which aren't so blessed. That makes sense for a "last mile" cargo carrier. Although if I was in business in the GFFA, I wouldn't want a craft like a YT-1300 for the job, not with only 150 tons carrying capacity. I'd rather have it as a cargo lighter, ferrying goods from a larger ship in orbit down to rough landing strips or pools of water.

And it's definitely possible to make a living in a YT-1300 legitimately, just as you say. As a tramp trader, ferrying bespoke cargo from the main trading worlds to the minor settlements.

Thing is, when I see a small , fast ship with minimal cargo space, my own thought is instantly "courier" or "smuggler" , not a serious long-haul freighter. And I suspect the designers knew exactly what they were doing. The YT-1300 reminds me of the Prohibition era Grape Bricks , ostensibly marketed as a soft drink additive.

Except, of course, almost no one bought them for that purpose. They were bought so people could make wine at home, circumventing the ban on sale and transport of alcoholic beverages. They even included helpful little instruction booklets which included tips like "do not do this or it will turn into wine". Wink wink nudge nudge.

Everyone knew what those were for. The people buying them knew what they were for. The companies selling them knew it. The Treasury agents charged with enforcing the laws knew it too. But because transporting grapes wasn't technically illegal, everyone had to pretend. There were only a small minority of naive people who didn't get the joke.

That's what I see when I look at the stock YT-1300: A dandy little smuggling craft which can also be used as a passable tramp freighter. And we'll see that there are people who use the YT-1300 legitimately. But I suspect it was always designed from the start as a smuggler, and the people who commissioned them knew full well what it was they were doing. Sure, you're going to get a few rubes who will buy it for its advertised ostensible purpose, just as there were people who really did buy grape bricks as soft drink additives, and that will serve well for cover. But I'd be very surprised if most people bought the YT-1300 for hauling legal goods to legal markets.

There's a dandy little game on Steam: Star Traders Frontiers. It allows you to make a stellar career as a legal merchant, smuggler, pirate, bounty hunter, xeno hunter, mercenary, spy. The merchant job requires you to buy the biggest cargo holds you can fit, and it requires constant intelligence gathering to find out where there are surpluses to buy, shortages to sell into. Flying a tiny , fast ship won't allow you to even pay the cost of fuel ferrying basic medical supplies to a population planet, then scrap to a refinery, then metals to an industrial satellite, and finally finished goods to a population center. No, to stay in the black with a tiny, fast ship that means carrying small cargos , or even individual passengers, to odd little places in the wilderness for very, very big cash bonuses, paid up front. Great if the jobs are legal ... but they're probably not.

At any rate, that's my answer to the claim: "The Millenium Falcon is classified as a light freighter, so they YT-1300 must be fit for that purpose." I contend that is deceptive advertising, a legal fiction. Technically it can function as a light freighter, but that's definitely not what it's best at. I think it's true purpose is the mission profile at which it excels: Smuggling and Courier runs.

There's also a secondary possibility: Just because a ship is designed for a role doesn't mean it's good at it. The auto industry sells Loss Leaders . While this is changing, a few decades ago something like the Chevy Volt is a loss leader -- you know it isn't going to make you any money, but it gives you credit for at least *trying* to make an electric car so people may feel better about the other products you sell. And of course there are also just flat design flops like the Ford Edsel . Just because a vehicle is designed for a role doesn't mean it's good at it, or that the role itself is well-conceived in the first place.

But of course that's all in the realm of fanon speculation.


Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Peelee]

Your comparison was a van. That would seem to argue against there being legitimate commercial uses, since people dont use regular vans as commercial transports from city to city.

You're right. In our society in our world with our logistics and our economics thst doesn't work out. And, again, you literally don't know the logistics and economics in the Star Wars universe. This is a world where corporations took "company town" to such an extent that they have senators. Plus, we are explicitly told "hey these things exist for these reasons". I agree with you that the author needs to actually put in effort to allow audience assumptions, but you're not asking for effort, the effort is already there. You're asking for the author to hold your hand and explicitly spell out the exact circumstances because you've already made the assumption and are demanding your assumptions be proven wrong.

Forgetting, of course, that two arguments that explicitly show legitimate commercial use have been offered, tramp freighter and pirate gangs aiming for larger, slower, less maneuverable and loot-heavy ships. With no word from you. Yeah, we're using trucks as examples but that's because we don't have much seafaring experience and sea ships are much more close analogues with space and planets.

[Keltest]

You're right. In our society in our world with our logistics and our economics thst doesn't work out. And, again, you literally don't know the logistics and economics in the Star Wars universe. This is a world where corporations took "company town" to such an extent that they have senators. Plus, we are explicitly told "hey these things exist for these reasons". I agree with you that the author needs to actually put in effort to allow audience assumptions, but you're not asking for effort, the effort is already there. You're asking for the author to hold your hand and explicitly spell out the exact circumstances because you've already made the assumption and are demanding your assumptions be proven wrong.

Yeah, because the assumptions im being asked to make dont make sense. "Light freighter" is almost an oxymoron. I can see it being used to transport things like precious gemstones from outer rim mines to more civilized planets for processing because the outer rim worlds dont have industrial landing ports for major cargo ships to load and unload from. But small volume precious cargo is basically the only non-passenger good that the Falcon is sized to be able to haul. And thats something of a niche market, which is probably why we very rarely see a ship the size of the Falcon engaged in actual legitimate commercial hauling of goods.

Heck, in the new Bad Batch episodes, we see that Star Wars does have cargo containers (basically literally), and on top of that they have ships sized to haul 50 of them. Thats bigger than the entire Falcon, and its all storage space, as opposed to the living quarters, engine room, life support etc... that the Falcon needs to function. THAT is a freight hauler.

The pickup truck analogy is admittedly flawed, but it does a very good job of demonstrating the scales involved when people make these observations.

ETA: Given that im the one who voiced the tramp freighter solution in the first place, it really shouldnt be surprising to you that im not offering commentary on it. I already said my piece on it.

[Peelee]

But small volume precious cargo is basically the only non-passenger good that the Falcon is sized to be able to haul. And thats something of a niche market, which is probably why we very rarely see a ship the size of the Falcon engaged in actual legitimate commercial hauling of goods.

Alternately, the fact that its called "Star Wars" and not "Star Commercial Shipping" might be why we rarely see a ship the size of the Falcon engaged in legitimate commercial hauling of goods. We rarely see massive haulers engaged in that either, dude. Again, the universe says that these things exist for this purpose. And we don't know how the economics work out in that universe. If you can't be bothered to suspend your disbelief to such a small extent that you absolutely insist that they must have the exact same economic impacts that we do, that's certainly your prerogative.

[Keltest]

Alternately, the fact that its called "Star Wars" and not "Star Commercial Shipping" might be why we rarely see a ship the size of the Falcon engaged in legitimate commercial hauling of goods. We rarely see massive haulers engaged in that either, dude. Again, the universe says that these things exist for this purpose. And we don't know how the economics work out in that universe. If you can't be bothered to suspend your disbelief to such a small extent that you absolutely insist that they must have the exact same economic impacts that we do, that's certainly your prerogative.

Is it really that implausible to you that they created a ship that looked cool and never really considered whether it made total sense? In Star Wars of all things?

[Gnoman]

Yeah, because the assumptions im being asked to make dont make sense. And thats something of a niche market, which is probably why we very rarely see a ship the size of the Falcon engaged in actual legitimate commercial hauling of goods.

We do. Hundreds of times a day. There's one flying over my house at this very second. The best analog to the Millennium Falcon is a cargo jet. Total capacity is nearly identical, the loading capacity is pretty similar even if the only ramp it has is the one seen on screen.


That's literally why we se relatively few watergoing little tramp shipping - it was replaced by planes.

[The Glyphstone]

Actually that's not a bad point. Cargo jets exist despite not being able to carry a tiny fraction of the capacity of a superfreighter container ship. But the plane is faster and can deliver to places the freighter can't.

[Fyraltari]

I'll add the relevant sentences which tell us pretty much everything about the quarrel.



So it's as you said; Han had repeatedly humiliated Ploovo. So Ploovo wants payback: Payback of the money he's owed, and payback for the face he lost. The first will be satisfied by a monetary payment; the second can only be satisfied by inflicting pain and agony on Solo. Happily, Solo is more than willing to inflict the damage on himself through sheer carelessness.

Ploovo Two-For-One expected the Authority goons to drag Solo off to prison while he waved and counted his money. It didn't work out that way, of course.

Okay, but the questions now are "If Han is usually late on payments, what is different this time? And why would he think that humiliating Ploovo further would solve the problem of Ploovo feeling humiliated?"

I think what's happening here is that the Authority inspectors look at the ship with different eyes than a farmer off Tatooine. Luke didn't pick up, as one example, on the fact that the ship has much more powerful engines than is standard for the class. it's the difference between showing your car to a 14-year-old and sending it in for a safety inspection.

Except that Luke isn't just a moist farmer, he's already an excellent pilot, he knows his way around ships. And it's not just his opinion, it's also Leia's. And in ESB the Falcon being in constant disrepair is a plot point. It's only in RotJ that it suddenly becomes "the fastest ship in the Alliance", so that it could have center stage in the big space battle.

[Keltest]

Okay, but the questions now are "If Han is usually late on payments, what is different this time? And why would he think that humiliating Ploovo further would solve the problem of Ploovo feeling humiliated?"





Except that Luke isn't just a moist farmer, he's already an excellent pilot, he knows his way around ships. And it's not just his opinion, it's also Leia's. And in ESB the Falcon being in constant disrepair is a plot point. It's only in RotJ that it suddenly becomes "the fastest ship in the Alliance", so that it could have center stage in the big space battle.

One would assume that Han's special modifications are meant to be not visible on casual inspection. But a port authority does a proper electronic scan and deeper examination.

[Wintermoot]

We do. Hundreds of times a day. There's one flying over my house at this very second. The best analog to the Millennium Falcon is a cargo jet. Total capacity is nearly identical,

Not even remotely correct.

Check the diagram presented earlier in the thread. There are about 62-66 squares of cargo space between the three holds. These aren't 5' squares either. Based on the size of the cockpit in comparison to the cockpit as it appears on camera, they are 2-3' squares. So let's call them 3' squares and give them a full 66 squares. And let's be generous and give them 9' clearance, even though it appears less than that on camera. That is 66 x3 x 3 x 9 or 5346 square feet of cargo space. This is me being overly generous btw, the actual figure is less, this is a generous maximum because i don't feel like counting half squares or figuring out the actual size of the squares.

Does anyone have a RPG or technical manual that gives the actual footage of haul space? I'd be curious to see what it says.

There is 24,500 square foot on a 747. 31000 in a lockheed c-5. The YT-1300 has less than a fifth of the cargo space of a terrestial aircraft. If it was "nearly identical" i wouldn't have as big of a problem with it.

So we are presented with two options:

• Star Wars economics are such that 5000' feet of haulage on an interstellar 'freighter' is economically sound and the yt-1300 is a good design.
• The yt-1300 is a terrible design.

I'm going with option two. That the yt-1300 is a boondoggle of a design, ill-fit to purpose. Which is probably why they are so rarely seen outside of "tramp freighters" on the outer rims. Because they make excellent winnebagos, just terrible freighters. Probably why they are so cheap on the secondary market that Lando was able to score one to soup up and put his expansive walk in closet in. Probably why noted space-ship fanboy Luke (I like to imagine he has boxes of spaceship fancy and starcraft modellers quarterly under his bunk at home) and experienced interstellar traveller and terrorist er freedom fighter, Leia both saw it and called it out as a piece of junk.

I am happy for you to go with option 1 if your prefer. That is, how did Peelee put it, your prerogative. Star Wars is a fantasy world we all can enjoy!

Except that Luke isn't just a moist farmer,

This will have me laughing all day.

[InvisibleBison]

Does anyone have a RPG or technical manual that gives the actual footage of haul space? I'd be curious to see what it says.

According to Wookieepedia, the Falcon has a cargo capacity of 100 metric tons. As a point of comparison, a 747-400F has a maximum payload of 124 metric tons. Given that the Falcon has had a lot of additional hardware installed that almost certainly has reduced its cargo capacity to some extent and that the 747 is a pretty big airplane, I'd say that the YT-1300 seems fairly plausible as a cargo vehicle.

[Wintermoot]

According to Wookieepedia, the Falcon has a cargo capacity of 100 metric tons. As a point of comparison, a 747-400F has a maximum payload of 124 metric tons. Given that the Falcon has had a lot of additional hardware installed that almost certainly has reduced its cargo capacity to some extent and that the 747 is a pretty big airplane, I'd say that the YT-1300 seems fairly plausible as a cargo vehicle.

Interesting. The Wookieepedia article says "As was intended, the ship began its career as an intermodal tug pushing container in orbital freight yards.[1]" With the Cite note pointing to "Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Incredible cross sections" which sounds like a fun book!

So its not a freighter. It's a tug boat. Huge engines for pushing stuff. Makes sense.

It also has a diagram of a base model freighter.

Spoiler

Show

now THAT makes more sense. That's much more cargo space. Still not as much as a modern era cargo plane, but at least three times as much as the falcon design.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, thats the F variant I had mentioned. I think that's also the one with the external cargo hooks.

So now I have to wonder - what exactly did Lando stuff into all that vacant space to make his design so comparatively cramped?

[Fyraltari]

Yeah, thats the F variant I had mentioned. I think that's also the one with the external cargo hooks.

So now I have to wonder - what exactly did Lando stuff into all that vacant space to make his design so comparatively cramped?

A closetfull of capes, for starters.

[Wintermoot]

A closetfull of capes, for starters.

And a giant fridge for the colt 45 malt liquor

[Gnoman]

Not even remotely correct.

Check the diagram presented earlier in the thread. There are about 62-66 squares of cargo space between the three holds. These aren't 5' squares either. Based on the size of the cockpit in comparison to the cockpit as it appears on camera, they are 2-3' squares. So let's call them 3' squares and give them a full 66 squares. And let's be generous and give them 9' clearance, even though it appears less than that on camera. That is 66 x3 x 3 x 9 or 5346 square feet of cargo space. This is me being overly generous btw, the actual figure is less, this is a generous maximum because i don't feel like counting half squares or figuring out the actual size of the squares.

The Falcon is pretty clearly configured for passenger carriage - officially the capacity is 100 tons or 8 cabins.

[Keltest]

Yeah, thats the F variant I had mentioned. I think that's also the one with the external cargo hooks.

So now I have to wonder - what exactly did Lando stuff into all that vacant space to make his design so comparatively cramped?

Probably all the stuff that was supposed to be under the floor panels that get used for smuggling.

[The Glyphstone]

Looking at the specs, it also has 3 shield generators, two hyperdrives, and salvaged capital ship-grade armor playing in addition to its souped up engine. That's probably all pretty bulky stuff.

[Peelee]

Is it really that implausible to you that they created a ship that looked cool and never really considered whether it made total sense? In Star Wars of all things?

Oh, that's absolutely what happened. No argument there. And then as the worldbuilding grew, it grew at least partly in the direction of "and it works that way". I accept that. You refuse to. Again, that's your prerogative, but its still you refusing what is offered and then complaining because now it doesn't work.

[Mechalich]

I think the Star Wars universe does have that logistic revolution. The Perlemian Trade Route . The Correlian Run. The Hydian Way . These and approximately a dozen other major hyper-trade routes are what define the Republic and the Empire. They are the equivalent of modern super highways; I would expect the major worlds along these routes to be able to process and deliver very large ships like the Lucrehulk, which exist in canon. Then you could have smaller freighters to carry goods from the major depots to the outlying worlds which aren't so blessed. That makes sense for a "last mile" cargo carrier. Although if I was in business in the GFFA, I wouldn't want a craft like a YT-1300 for the job, not with only 150 tons carrying capacity. I'd rather have it as a cargo lighter, ferrying goods from a larger ship in orbit down to rough landing strips or pools of water.

The tricky bit, with Star Wars, is that spacecraft are representing multiple types of Earth vehicles, both aircraft, ground craft, and seagoing vessels. The major hyperlanes are used by the in-universe equivalent of ships, big old steamers and other cargo ships with very large capacity and at least some degree of modularity - the cargo ships in Rebels are clearly based off of modern container ships even though the intermodal container didn't really become a thing until the 1950s. These are clearly being processed somewhere, probably at big orbital docks, since many of the truly massive ships in Star Wars are described as unable to enter atmosphere. In SWTOR, notably, you can't land directly on any but the most developed planets and all traffic to and from the surface is conducted by shuttle to an orbital station. That's deep in the in-universe past, but still a useful model.

Except that Luke isn't just a moist farmer, he's already an excellent pilot, he knows his way around ships. And it's not just his opinion, it's also Leia's. And in ESB the Falcon being in constant disrepair is a plot point. It's only in RotJ that it suddenly becomes "the fastest ship in the Alliance", so that it could have center stage in the big space battle.

The thing about the Falcon being junky is that it's an old model. In Legends the ship was commissioned in 60 BBY, meaning it was 60 years old when Luke first saw it, sixty years during perhaps the most rapid period of advancement in starship tech in the history of the galaxy (you can thank Palpatine for that). Several other designs in the same series, such as the YT-2000 and YT-2400 had already been out for decades by ANH. The Falcon is old and had seen a lot of hard service - there's an entire Legends novel about all the people who used to own the Falcon and what they did with it before Lando and Han acquired it.

Now, Lucas was very much into US car culture - made a whole hit movie about it and everything - and so the idea of a ship that was old, looked crummy, but had 'got it where it counts' is absolutely in his wheelhouse. This is actually another useful reference regarding the Falcon. Whatever it was originally designed to do, it's been hot-rodded from stem to stern to the point that it barely resembles that purpose anymore.

[runeghost]

I'm going to tentatively dip my toes into the Falcon/YT-1300 discussion, to mention an inspiration that I didn't see yet in the thread: the 'speedster' of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen series.

While it doesn't get much attention these days, Smith was THE father of space opera, starting the Skylark series in 1928 with The Skylark of Space, and then in 1937's Galactic Patrol introducing into the Galaxy the Lensmen - elite space cops with telepathic abilities, trained by aliens, and who all bear a mystic jewel as a symbol of their office as they protect the galaxy from evil. Sound familiar?

And an important type of spacecraft in the Lensmen stories is the speedster:

"one of those new automatic speedsters. Lots of legs, cruising range, and screens. Only one beam, but I probably won't use even that one..."

"And what a ship this little speedster was! Trim, trig, streamlined to the ultimate she lay there, quiescent but surcharged with power. Almost sentient she was, this powerpacked, ultraracy little fabrication of space-toughened alloy, instantly ready at his touch to liberate those tremendous energies which were to hurl him through the infinite reaches of the cosmic void."

Now, in appearance, the speedster (particularly the indetectable black ones our heroes tend to use) look more like a then-undreamed-of SR-71 than the Falcon. But they're more than just cockpit and engines. Speedsters carry supplies for long trips, and can and do handle a small group (about the size of a party of PCs) in addition to their pilot. When Lensmen aren't flitting around the galaxy on the bridge of a battle-cruiser, they're using speedsters. And while the greater Star Wars canon may have the Falcon in as a light freighter or smuggler, in the material Lucas was drawing inspiration from, the Falcon is a stand-in for a speedster. (A zee-rust speedster rather than a raygun-gothic speedster, but a speedster all the same.)

[pendell]

A good point; it's definitely a speedster i.e. high-speed courier or personal transport or smuggler as opposed to a cargo hauler, although it can function in that role.

As much fun as we're having, I'm ready to start the next chapter.

Spoiler: Chapter 3

Show

Han and Chewie get out of their Uber at their docking port to find an authority bureaucrat busy booting their ship, fastening a lock with an intruder alarm on the entrance to the docking bay. Han quickly looks around and notices a liquor store nearby.

"Here's the plan..."

... why does my skin crawl when he says that?

The functionary finishes fastening the lock just as a young human male and a giant wookie absolutely reeking of alcohol and carrying a ten liter (some two gallon) container of something really , really smelly and really, really, boozy. As he starts to leave the wookie bobbles and there is a complicated three way collision. The ten liters of booze go ALL over the authority guy's clothes. There are a few complicated seconds of wookie yelling, Han apologizing and trying in vain to wipe the crud off the suit. Finally the authority bureaucrat hustles off, desperate to change his clothes before his boss catches him and assume he's been drinking on the clock. The two others keep hollering at each other about the booze as he flees.

The yelling stops just as soon as he's out of earshot. Han pulls out the key to the lock which he had pickpocketed from the Authority guy in the confusion, and unlocks the door. They step in. Chewie starts warming up the Falcon while Han warns him not to call for clearance, as they won't get it. Fortunately, Han has a Cunning Plan.

He goes for a walk and, three bays down, sees another YT-1300 with an obviously honest crew loading up an ordinary cargo.

As an aside, this tells us that at this point in time the YT-1300 must be a pretty common ship, at least in the Corporate Sector. Han assumed he would find another ship like his within a few minutes' walk, and this is borne out. Ergo, for all our discussion the YT-1300 does seem to be a fairly popular ship, and these guys definitely are using it to haul cargo.

Han hails them and asks if they're lifting tomorrow. The crew is a bit puzzled and says no, they're scheduled for 2100 tonight (9PM). Han acts surprise, waves a cheery goodbye, then heads back to his own docking bay, going back in just as Chewbacca closes the doors and re-locks them with the Authority lock, the better to buy them a bit more time.

Han had memorized the other YT's ID, docking bay number, and now their departure time. This is all he needs to impersonate them. So he hails the tower and asks permission to move their time up from 2100 to now. The novel tells us "not an unusual request for a tramp freighter. whose schedule might change abruptly. Since there wasn't much traffic and clearance for the ship had already been granted, immediate liftoff was approved at once."

Which they do, and hyperjump away from Etti IV, Chewie singing all the way, a wookie song of triumph.

Aside: It appears that Keltest and Megalich are right; the stock YT-1300 whose identity Han stole was a tramp freighter, carrying ad hoc cargo loads to whatever destination seemed likely to draw a profit. Presumably that's the Falcon's cover identity as well.

Now, to business.

Han and Chewie discuss, and decide they need to make a number of refits to the Falcon if they're going to continue in the smuggling game.

1) They got jumped by an Authority lighter which saw them first. Therefore, they're going to need a better long range sensor. They have a sensor dish but it's wobbling and close to its last days, so they need to replace it.

2) Likewise, they should have had warning of the Authority Lighter a long time before they themselves were detected. What in military terms is called a [ Radar Warning Receiver (RWR) and in civilian terms is called a "fuzz-buster". Radar emissions are detectable on passive listening devices a long time before the signal strength is high enough to give a detection return to the originator. Han and Chewie have one, of course. This enables them to detect police traps and evade them. Except the Authority has either changed the frequencies or their using some other detection gizmo. Whatever it is, Han and Chewie need to be able to detect it before they're spotted themselves, or it's time to get out of smuggling and into honest work.

3) Finally, they need to be on the Waivers list or they'll never be able to set down in Authority space again.

Han notes that the Authority has wrung out thousands of star systems and now Han wants his own personal, and profitable, revenge: Rob 'em blind. He's not going to be stopped by these obstacles.

So they head off to find an outlaw ship mechanic -- a man known as "Doc". He and his organization have been in business for a very long time, and they are the ones who have done most of the illegal customization's to the Falcon in the past. He pays a fortune in bribes to Authority police so that he is always tipped off when a raid is under way, so he jokes that he may be the only criminal in the business who will need to start a pension plan for his employees. Let's find him.

It takes some work. First stop is an all-but-abandoned mining world, where we meet a guy who sends them to a barge captain. After a background check, they are given a rendezvous, which escorts them to a planet , where they land on a fusion-formed landing strip while anti-air turbolasers track the Falcon in. Han notes fusion-forming as any solid material will do; minerals, vegetable matter, enemies whom you had no further use for.

We are met by Doc's daughter, Jessa .



Described as "tall, her hair a mass of heavy blond ringlets .. her upturned nose had a collection of freckles acquired under a variety of suns: Jessa had been on almost as many planets as Han. Just now, her large brown eyes show derision".

Jessa brings Han back into the office and breaks the news that Doc is missing; he was on a purchasing trip , hit three planets on schedule but never showed up at the fourth.

"Han thought for a moment about the old man with work-hardened hands, a quick , crusty grin, and a halo of frizzy white hair. Han had liked him, but if Doc was gone, that was that. Few people who vanished under circumstances like that ever showed up again. Luck of the draw. Han had always traveled light, with emotional baggage the first thing he jettisoned, and grief was too heavy to lug around among the stars.

So that only left thinking 'Goodbye, Doc', and dealing with Jessa. .. But when his brief distraction broke, he saw that she'd studied the entire play of emotions on his face. 'You got through that eulogy pretty quickly, didn't you, Solo? Nobody gets too far under that precious skin of yours , do they?'

That pricked him. 'If it was me who checked out, would Doc have gone on a crying jag for me, Jess? Would you? I'm sorry, but life goes on, and if you lose sight of that, sweetheart, you're asking to be dealt out of the game. "

Fine. To business. Jessa has had Han thoroughly checked out, and so she knows just what he wants, why he's here, and that he doesn't have the money to pay for it.

Han wonders why he's been brought here if she knows this already. he'd been intending to work out a long-term payment plan with Doc, but Jessa has a better idea. "I'll give you your upgrades and you're waiver if you do a little job for me... pick up 20 pocoballs and bring them back."

Han: "Gorramit , I hate side quests."

Okay, that isn't exactly what they say, but , yeah, it's plot hook for the quest time! Jessa will trade in kind: Han does a job for her, she upgrades his ship and gets him on the Waivers list.

After the typical grousing about not wanting danger, Han and Chewie are both of course up for danger.

The objective is to travel to the planet Orron III , an agricultural planet which happens to have an Authority Data Center.

Han balks; that's quite dangerous. Of COURSE it's dangerous! That's why she's using you rather than hiring someone; this isn't a job someone will take for any money. But Han meets the unique qualifications of being both skilled enough to pull it off yet desperate enough financially to not walk away.

We can minimize the risk, though. Only Authority ships and grain barges are given clearance to land here, so groundside security is light. They'll rig up the Millenium Falcon with a grain barge shell , and that is how they will receive landing clearance. Once this is done they are to take two passengers to meet contacts groundside, pickup those contacts, and take them where they want to go. If the pickups want Han to know more than that, it's their business and not hers.

let's meet our passengers. First, Bollux:


Bollux is a general purpose labor droid who has been knocking about the galaxy for more than a century; apparently he's never been mem-wiped. They call him Bollux for all the trouble they had restructuring him for this job, which is to carry this little wonder in his chest cavity:



Say hello to Blue Max , who is a top of the line security breaker and slicing unit. Very intelligent, Blue Max has the personality of a precocious ten-year-old, with the foul mouth to match.

So .. is Han going to take the deal? Or is he going to show the galaxy the folly of crime by starving.

Han takes the deal, and now we have an adventuring party!

BOLLUX JOINED THE ALLY!
BLUE MAX JOINED THE ALLY!


However, before we can act on this further, the base's early warning triggers; a strange ship has entered the system and deployed four snub fighters to scout the planet. The mother ship returns to hyperspaces, leaving the scouts behind both to explore and to harass.

These four ships are Authority IRDs , which is short for Intercept, Reconnaissance, Defense.


I've encountered these in X-wing alliance . They're fast, maneuverable, very similar to the TIE but they have shields. Perhaps the Authority is more interested in protecting the lives of its pilots than the Empire is; trained personnel are expensive, after all.

They'll be here in 20 minutes.

The reason the mother ship bugged out was to send a report home -- the reason the outlaw techs are in this location in the first place is because there are a number of black holes in the stellar region which mask transmissions. It means that anyone who finds them has to travel some distance away to holler for help ... and it also gives the techs a chance to disappear them before the word gets out.

Jessa asks Han to lead the defense of the base, since they only have snub fighters themselves; in a throw back to WWII the ground-based weapons targeting the falcon are too slow and clumsy to hit fighters. Han again complains about the odds, and Jessa points out that if the base isn't defended his ship will be blown up with it.

Ah, the ship! That must be it. That's why he wants to defend this base against his better judgement. That niggling feeling in the back of his mind has to be nothing but concern for his own ships and it couldn't possibly be the beginning of a conscience -- could it?

Han sighs and asks Jessa for a flight helmet. He's going to need it.

Join us next chapter for some aerial combat and fighter-on-fighter action!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[runeghost]

I first read the Han Solo Adventures in the early 80s, during my formative years as a reader (and as a young Star Wars fan, who was thrilled to find out that they existed at all).

Looking back at this chapter makes me realize that in the decades since, a great deal of my roleplaying of "fixer"-type NPCs probably has its roots in these novels.

[Fyraltari]

You got through that eulogy pretty quickly, didn't you, Solo? Nobody gets too far under that precious skin of yours , do they?'

That pricked him. 'If it was me who checked out, would Doc have gone on a crying jag for me, Jess? Would you? I'm sorry, but life goes on, and if you lose sight of that, sweetheart, you're asking to be dealt out of the game. "

"Your dad's dead? Well, sucks to be you."
Han Solo, everybody.

Edit: Also, question. Is Chewie's dilaog translated or does the novel does the usual schtick of Han repearing everything his friend says for no apparent reason?

[pendell]

Edit: Also, question. Is Chewie's dialog translated or does the novel does the usual schtick of Han repearing everything his friend says for no apparent reason?

Some of the usual schtick, but for the most part Brian Daley will use a third option: telling us what Chewbacca said in English, without directly quoting him. Something like "Chewbacca made no secret of his dislike for the plan." Occasionally you'll get some untranslated dialog, but we'll also sometimes get third-person omniscient view of his thoughts; on those occasions, it'll be in English.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Saintheart]

I love some of the dialogue in this novel.

Spoiler

Show

When Han looks at the Z-95 headhunters: "What'd you do, knock over a museum?"