The author stated that "Per Lucasfilm's request, I did not cover Han's time in the Imperial Academy, or his first meeting with Chewbacca";[1] these events were eventually depicted in the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story.

With the release of the three Star Wars prequel films starting in 1999 and a copious amount of related Expanded Universe material, some of the stated information about minor characters of the original trilogy became inaccurate and as such necessitated a retconned explanation.

Using a false identity, he takes a job as a pilot and smuggler, putting the skills he learned committing a wide array of crimes in the Corellian system for Shrike.

He discovers that the religious pilgrims are in fact slaves, who choose to stay on the planet due to their overlords' misrepresentation of a mating call of their species that can induce extreme pleasure as really being a kind of spiritial gift.

Han secretly records a conversation with the High Priest and plays it to help one of the slaves who he is attracted to, the Corellian Bria Tharen, wake from her mental prison.

A few years after the first book, Han has been court-martialed and ejected from the Imperial Navy for saving Chewbacca, then a Wookiee slave, from abuse at the hands of a superior officer.

However, Shild informs Han that he intends to launch an orbital bombardment campaign against Nal Hutta's moon, Nar Shaddaa, the home of millions of smugglers and their families.

Their forces are bolstered when a small pirate fleet hired by the Hutts to protect them, led by Captain Renthal, agrees to fight alongside the smugglers.

Shild commits suicide after being summoned before the Emperor for his failure, and Greelanx is summarily executed by Darth Vader for treason shortly after Han returns to his ship with the remainder of his payment.

In the aftermath of the battle, Bria's troopers turn their blasters on Lando and the rest of Han's friends, confiscating all valuables in the name of the Rebel Alliance.

Defaced and branded a traitor back on Nar Shaddaa, Lando refuses to believe Han was not involved in the swindle, and punches his former friend in the jaw.

However, they are met mid-Run by an Imperial patrol, and are forced to abandon their cargo in deep space while the Falcon is searched and escorted to a nearby world.

On Tatooine, Han tries unsuccessfully to arrange a personal meeting with Jabba, and is increasingly harassed by bounty hunters working for the crime lord.

While looking for a card game in which he may be able to win the money needed to pay off Jabba, he briefly encounters Dash Rendar, a character featured prominently in Shadows of the Empire.

Bria's obtaining of the Death Star plans was intended as the "first victory" of the rebels described in the opening crawl of A New Hope, but was later superseded by the events of the 2016 film Rogue One.