WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #11 by Ethan Sacks, Paolo Villanelli, Travis Lanham and Arif Prianto, on sale now.
Beilert Valance and Han Solo have one of the most complicated relationships in the Star Wars Universe. While both started as recruits for the Empire, they ended up going separate ways. Their separate paths led them to the Rebellion where Han took a much grander role and Valance went back to his bounty hunting ways. When Valance learned of Han's capture by Boba Fett, he immediately chased after the iconic bounty hunter. It's now been revealed that Valance's pursuit of Solo is for a different reason than previously thought.
Solo and Valance both joined the Imperial Naval Academy around the same time. The two were at the head of their class but Solo's cavalier attitude combined with his arrogance kept him from becoming greater than Valance. Earlier issues of Star Wars: Bounty Hunters and Robbie Thompson and Leonard Kirk's Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet miniseries both depict Valance's ship crashing after a dogfight. The Empire was not willing to save Valance. Thus, Han created his own rescue mission and recovered Valance. Beilert had suffered gruesome injuries during this dog fight and would eventually be made into a cyborg.
When Han was frozen in carbonite, Valance made a big deal out of tracking the smuggler down and saving him. It was initially thought that he was trying to repay the debt he owed to Han for saving his life, but Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #12 proved that Valance already repaid this debt. Valance was attempting to escape Zuckuss and 4-LOM, but gets caught in a flashback when Dengar questions why Solo is so important to the bounty hunter.
Valance ended up on the spaceport of Abregado-Rae after the botched job with Nakano Lash. He was desperate for work and proved himself worthy to run a mission with the Caviness Thorn Crew. The job was to successfully collect on a bounty that was placed on a pair of smugglers. The smugglers are revealed to be Han Solo and Chewbacca. When Valance realized this, he turned on the crew and began to fight them in an attempt to save Han's life. Valance got into a fight with the leader of the crew who threw him directly in front of Solo. Han was deeply disturbed that the man he saved was supposedly trying to kill him. Before Valance could explain himself, Chewie scooped Han up and escaped with him aboard the Falcon.
This completely changes the narrative that has been building the last few issues. It was believed that Valance was trying to save Han to repay this debt, but Valance already saved Han's life on Abregado-Rae. Solo did not realize that Valance was trying to save him, thus Han could still hold a grudge against the cyborg. It's plausible that Valance wants to save Solo once again in order for Han to realize that Valance is not the villain that he thinks he is. With every bounty hunter in the galaxy in pursuit of Fett and Solo, Valance will have his hands full if he wants to explain his mistakes to his former rival. It seems like Valance is trying to turn over a new leaf and it would make sense that Han's forgiveness could make him feel better about himself or create an entrance for him to truly join the Rebellion.
While Valance is competing against the other bounty hunters to locate Solo, there is one more player he should be cautious of. Chewbacca does not have the history with Valance that Han has, since Chewbacca only knows Valance from the attempted assassination on Abregado-Rae. But Chewie is notorious for holding grudges and will not hesitate to attack Valance if the two cross paths, especially without Han present. Considering that Han was extremely heated after the events on the spaceport, it's safe to assume that he was not sharing lighthearted stories about Valance with Chewie.
Valance's mission to rescue Han has become increasingly difficult. Originally, he and Dengar had a headstart over the other hunters to reach Fett, but that has completely diminished. Trouble is brewing with the Rebels and the bounty hunters searching the galaxy for Fett. Only time will tell if Valance sides with the hunters or makes the jump to the Rebellion to help the man who gave him a second chance at life.
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