WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Star Wars #14 by Charles Soule, Ramon Rosanas, Rachelle Rosenberg and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
Lando Calrissian is continually proving that he is not worth the Rebels' trust. He immediately joined up with the Rebels after his deal with Darth Vader and the Empire backfired on him. While Lando proved vital to Luke and Leia's return to Cloud City in Star Wars #3, he has been on thin ice ever since. And now, Star Wars #14 just proved that Lando is still pushing his boundaries within the Rebellion.
The Empire had previously cracked the Rebellion's code. This meant that the main hub of Rebels was unable to communicate with their other branches without alerting the Empire to their location. To bypass this problem, Leia sent Lando, Lobot and a crew of Rebels to steal a talky droid that spoke an ancient language that the Empire could not decipher. Unfortunately, the talky's memory bank was corrupted and there was only one person in the Rebellion that could fix the droid, Lobot.
Lobot's implants reorganized the talky's circuits which allowed the droid to speak Galactic Basic. While Lobot kept the talky working, Lando was busy making side deals with Bib Fortuna and Jabba the Hutt. Lando had previously promised Jabba valuable information on the Rebel Alliance and he wanted to check on Lando's progress. Lando informed them of the droid before checking back in with Lobot. The talky revealed that Lobot only had a few more hours until his system crashed.
The Rebels wanted to continue with their transmission but the process was killing Lobot. Lando tried to intervene but the Rebels stopped him before he could deactivate the droid. While Lobot survived, Lando became aware of his standing in the Rebellion and reached back out to Bib to confirm that he would supply them with the Talky.
Star Wars #14 picks up with Lando, Lobot, Chewie and Leia preparing to infiltrate a meeting between Crimson Dawn and the greatest powers in the galaxy. Lando saw this as the perfect opportunity to dump the talky, as the Hutts would be present at the meeting and could pick up their delivery. Lando turned the droid back on before dumping it and revealed that he was doing this as revenge on the droid for its actions against Lobot.
This went south quickly. As the talky floated away from their ship, it reconnected with Lobot's implants. This allowed Lobot to regain his mind and ability to speak. Lobot explained that the droid was allowing this to happen and Lando attempted to get Chewie to turn the ship around, but it was too late. Chewie had already started his descent towards the planet, and Lobot's mind slipped away as they got further and further from the droid. As Lando realized his mistake, he promised Lobot that he would do everything he could to fix him.
Lando and Lobot have been through some rough times together. Lando blames himself for Lobot's current status because Lobot had to sacrifice most of his mind to save Lando during a previous adventure. This was supposed to be Lando's time to make things right with his friend, but his selfish actions proved to be the doom for his closest ally. While Lando has promised to fix Lobot, this became more difficult with the talky out of the picture.
It would appear that Lando has not learned his lesson about betraying the Rebellion to greater powers. While this betrayal was not near as severe as the time he sold Leia and Han out to the Empire, it still falls back negatively on Lando. His betrayal in Empire Strikes Back cost him his luxurious position within Cloud City. Now, his latest betrayal has doomed his closest friend.
Things can only get worse for Lando as the Rebellion is sure to discover that the talky droid had been stolen from their base. With tensions already high and many members of the Rebellion having dismal associations with Lando, this operation is one of his most risky. If the Rebels discover that Lando had betrayed them yet again, it will take more than his role in Return of the Jedi to be viewed in a positive light.