“The Angle” - From a Certain Point of View

"The Angle", by Charles Soule, comes from the perspective of Lando Calrissian. This story follows "Contingency Plan."

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WARNING: This is a plot summary of the short story, spoilers ahead:

Lando Calrissian was in a reputable illegal gambling establishment. He sat at a table, playing Klikklak with Jaff Basan. He had carefully cultivated his current load of credits for this moment. Klikklak rules were about as simple as it got, but playing it was left to only the best gamblers. Each player had a single sabacc card issued to them. The players then had 10 minutes to talk. During that time, each player needed to determine, through casual conversation what their opponent was holding. At the end, you said whether your card was higher or lower than your opponents. One person could be right, or both could be wrong. Either way, the house took 10% of the pot, so the worst possible outcome was a tie, with only the house winning. Lando wasn't about to let that happen. He was able to figure out his opponents tells, and through some crafty dropping of words or phrases that indicated things that were "high" the conversation let Lando to be 100% sure that his opponent's card was higher than his. He was going to win, and he was going to buy a ship, be mobile, and get back to his plan.

At the moment the players were about to place their decisions, a group of stormtroopers, led by an angry and icy cold officer, entered the room and commanded everyone to disperse. The owner, a reputable man who ran the cleanest illegal joint in the galaxy, was going to be shot, Lando was sure. This officer was clearly on edge, and was looking for a fight. Lando knew the owner, "Luck Luck" Freidal was a dead man. Lando considered the small blaster he had hidden under his cape. He knew he could draw it and kill the officer and probably two of the troopers before the last couple could react. At that point everyone with a concealed blaster would draw and finish the job. But Lando knew that heroes were chumps, so he sat quietly, and watched as Freidal was dropped to the ground by a trooper's blaster. The crowd dispersed, and Lando was forced to leave behind all of his credits, that he had so carefully gathered for this moment.

Lando wandered into a much less reputable joint, where he met up with his pal, Lobot. He told the story of what happened, and Lobot explained that the officer was probably unhinged and looking for vengeance to assert his authority and get some pride back. Lando didn't understand. Pride back? Lobot explained that a video was just released onto the Darknet by the Rebels, how they had blown up a huge Imperial battle station. The bartender cued up the feed, which the whole bar had already watched repeatedly, and seemingly was eager to see it again. The feed was from a camera on board some kind of fighter. The view was almost completely filled by an impossibly large space station, and he watched as various Rebel fighters criss-crossed the screen, most getting shot down. He wondered why the Rebels would release this visual. Their underdog message was getting old. He saw a trio of TIE's, including one that was modified, follow a trio of X-Wings into a trench on the surface of the space station. Suddenly, he saw it. He asked the bartender to stop and go back. He asked to go back a couple of more times. The patrons were getting restless, they wanted to see the end of the video, but Lando had to be sure. "That's my ship!" he said incredulously to Lobot. He watched as the Millennium Falcon dove into view, blasted two of the TIE's, and sent the modified one into space, clearing the way for the last X-Wing to deliver the kill shot. A huge explosion filled the view, and the patrons cheered. All of this would have gotten everyone killed if that officer walked in to this joint, but Lando didn't care.

Lando knew that only one other man had anywhere near the skill to fly the Falcon in that manner, in a manner that otherwise only Lando could pull off. That was Han Solo at the controls. But what was his angle? Sure, you could do business with the Rebels. Credits were credits. You might even try to help someone out, if you thought it would help you later. But risking himself and Lando's own ship in some insane attack on a massive Imperial space station? It made no sense. Solo was playing the hero, and heroes were chumps. If he couldn't see the angle, then it meant that Solo himself was being played. He sat there with his drink, trying to figure out what he was missing.

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