SHOWDOWN AT CENTERPOINT
A Bantam Spectra Book / October 1995
SPECTRA and the portrayal of a boxed “s” are trademarks of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
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Cover art by Drew Struzan.
Cover art copyright © 1995 by Lucasfilm Ltd.
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v3.1
To Mandy Slater
who was there when it started
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Author’s Note
What Has Gone Before
Chapter One - Approach
Chapter Two - Landing
Chapter Three - At the Source
Chapter Four - Child’s Play
Chapter Five - Down the Hatch
Chapter Six - The View From Inside
Chapter Seven - Seeing the Light
Chapter Eight - Meeting in Progress
Chapter Nine - If and When
Chapter Ten - Casting the Stone
Chapter Eleven - The Ripples Spread
Chapter Twelve - Incoming
Chapter Thirteen - Evasive Maneuvers
Chapter Fourteen - The Last Good-bye
Chapter Fifteen - Showdown at Centerpoint
Epilogue
About The Author
Also by This Author
Introduction to the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Excerpt from Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn: Specter of the Past
Introduction to the Old Republic Era
Introduction to the Rise of the Empire Era
Introduction to the Rebellion Era
Introduction to the New Republic Era
Introduction to the New Jedi Order Era
Introduction to the Legacy Era
Star Wars Novels Timeline
Author’s Note
I would like to offer my thanks to Tom Dupree, to Jennifer Hershey, and to all the other good people of Bantam Spectra, who have demonstrated great confidence in me throughout this project. Thanks likewise to Eleanor Wood and Lucienne Diver for their support and for their efficient handling of the business side of things.
I would also like to thank my wife, Eleanore Fox, who had enough to put up with learning a new language and packing up for our move to Brazil. She certainly didn’t need a novelist underfoot at the same time, but she got one, and she dealt with the situation. Clearly, the U.S. Foreign Service only hires the best. At least in the present case.
Thanks as well to Mandy Slater, friend and confidante, to whom this book is dedicated. She was there, at the kitchen table in Washington, when the call came in, summoning me to active duty as a Star Wars author. She helped convince me that I could pull this thing off. If it turns out I have, and you see her, please let her know she was right. Of course, finding her to tell her might be a problem. The last time I saw her was in New Orleans, and she had just flown in from Romania via London, and she was en route to Chicago. Before that, the last time I saw her was in Fresno, California, for my wedding, and the time before that was in London, and before London, Toronto, I think. After a while it’s hard to keep track. But thanks, Mandy, all the same.
Speaking of travel, one of the grand traditions of a good Star Wars story is that everything happens everywhere at once. I’m afraid the second book in this series was written almost completely in and around Washington, D.C., plus maybe a little on a trip to Philadelphia and New York. This third one got itself done not only in Arlington, Virginia; Bethesda, Maryland; and places of similar ilk, but also in New York, Miami, over the Caribbean and the Amazon, in Sao Paulo and in Brasilia. It was edited in Bethesda; Norfolk, Virginia; Atlanta; Montgomery, Alabama; and Biloxi, Mississippi. If that’s not mobility enough for you, we’re going to have to talk.
One final note, on the dangers of dedicating anything to an English teacher. I did indeed dedicate the second volume of this trilogy to Beth Zipser and her husband Mike. Beth taught me eleventh-grade English many moons ago, and she now plays a mean hand of poker. When she learned of the dedication, she was so moved she instantly sprang into action—and started searching the manuscript for grammatical errors. Let this serve as a warning always to do your best. After all, you never know when your high school English teacher might check up on you.
ROGER MACBRIDE ALLEN
April 1995
Brasilia, Brazil
What Has Gone Before
It is a time of uncertain peace in the galaxy. Fourteen years have passed since the defeat of the Empire and the death of Darth Vader.
Leia Organa Solo, her husband Han Solo, and their three children Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin, accompanied by Chewbacca the Wookiee, set off on a family trip to Corellia, Han’s homeworld. Unbeknownst to them, the mysterious Human League has set in motion a plot to take over the Corellian Sector.
Leia engages a tutor for the children, a Drall named Ebrihim, who takes them on a tour of a large archaeological site. During the tour, the three children locate a huge and strange installation of unknown age and purpose.
Mara Jade arrives at Corellia with a coded message. The unknown senders of the message claim to have touched off a recent supernova, and intend to set off more, in populated star systems, if their unspecified demands are not met.
The Human League begins its long-planned revolt against the New Republic. Chewbacca, assisted by Q9-X2, Ebrihim’s irascible droid, escapes with the children to Drall aboard the Millennium Falcon.
The Human League’s leader reveals himself to be Thrackan Sal-Solo, Han’s long-lost cousin, a man known for his guile and cruelty. A powerful jamming system comes on, cutting off virtually all communications in the Corellian planetary system.
Han helps New Republic Intelligence agent Belindi Kalenda steal an X-TIE Ugly fighter. She flies toward Coruscant with news of the catastrophe, but Han is captured by the Human League.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker has agreed to accompany Lando Calrissian on his search for a suitable wife. Lando meets Tendra Risant of the planet Sacorria. Luke and Lando then set course for Corellia, where they plan to attend the trade conference. They fly into a huge interdiction field that surrounds all of the Corellian star system. The field, far larger than any in history, prevents travel through hyperspace anywhere in the Corellian system. Lando and Luke turn back for Coruscant to bring word.
Leia is captured, and locked up with Mara Jade. The two of them accomplish a daring escape to Mara’s private ship, the Jade’s Fire. Han, likewise imprisoned, is forced to fight the Selonian Dracmus, a fellow prisoner, for the amusement of the Human League’s commanders. Thrackan, angered by Han’s insolence, then throws him in the same cell with Dracmus. Before Han can attempt a foolhardy escape, Dracmus’s fellow Selonians break them out of prison.
Luke, Lando, and Kalenda reach Coruscant, only to learn that the Rep
ublic is at a very lowered state of readiness. It is decided that they must go to see Gaeriel Capistan on the planet Bakura, in hopes that she can assemble a Bakuran fleet. She does so, and Admiral Hortel Ossilege is placed in command. A task force of four ships, equipped with special equipment to break through the interdiction field, heads for Corellia. The plan is to stage a diversionary raid at Selonia before moving toward the real target, the massive Centerpoint Station that seems to be the source of the jamming and the interdiction field.
The children, Chewbacca, Ebrihim, and Q9 arrive on Drall and meet with Ebrihim’s Aunt Marcha, the Duchess of Mastigophorous. Aunt Marcha leads the group to an underground facility identical to the one on Corellia. The chamber is a huge and ancient planetary repulsor, capable of moving the planet itself through space. There is little doubt that there are similar repulsors on all the inhabited worlds of the Corellian system. They hide in the repulsor cavern, and try to learn more about it.
Meantime, Tendra Risant discovers a huge fleet assembling in the Sacorrian system. She flies toward Corellia, intent on warning Lando and Luke, unaware that they are not yet there. Forced out of hyperspace by the interdiction field, she flies on in normal space. Using an antique radionic communications system, she sends a signal to Lando—and despairs when he does not respond.
Back on Corellia, Dracmus puts Han aboard a most unreliable-looking spacecraft, a coneship. He is flown toward Selonia, for reasons he does not fully understand. Mara and Leia likewise decide to head for Selonia, and both craft are en route when the Bakuran task force arrives. A space battle ensues between the Bakuran ships and units from the various rebellions. Lando, aboard his ship, the Lady Luck, for the first time since arrival in the Selonian system, finally hears Tendra’s warning message only seconds before he goes into battle. In the battle, one of the four Bakuran ships is smashed into rubble by a shot from the planetary repulsor on Selonia.
The Selonian coneship malfunctions and the Jade’s Fire effects a rescue of Han and the Selonians. Han and Leia are reunited.
Meanwhile, far across space, in the system of the next star to be blown up, a frantic evacuation effort gets under way. Many are saved, but many are left behind in the chaos and panic. The star explodes. Thousands die.
The third star on the starbuster list has a population of millions. It will be impossible even to begin to evacuate everyone. Unless the puzzle of the starbuster plot can be solved in time, millions of innocent people will die …
CHAPTER ONE
Approach
Honored Solo, we are running out of time!” the voice squawked from the comm unit. “We will be entering atmosphere soonest if our approach is not controlled!” The intercom gave out a strangled squeal. Either the comm circuit up to the ship’s control cabin was on the verge of giving out again, or else Han had just gotten lucky, and Dracmus was about to lose her voice. That would be a blessing.
Han slapped the answer switch and tried to stay focused on his work. “Keep your shirt on, Dracmus,” he said, shouting just a bit. “The comm unit send-circuits needed work as well. Tell honored Pilot Salculd that I’m nearly done.” Why did the universe require all shipboard repairs to be on the rush? What I wouldn’t give to have Chewbacca here, Han thought.
“What shirt?” the voice asked worriedly. “Should shirts be worn? Is this for safety?”
Han sighed and pushed the answer button again. “It’s an expression. It means ‘be patient,’ ” he said, struggling to keep his own patience. Dracmus was a Selonian, and most Selonians did not like being in space. Understandable for a species that mostly lived underground, but having an agoraphobic being in command was enough to drive anyone crazy.
Han Solo made the last hookup, closed down the last of the inspection hatches, and crossed his fingers for luck. That ought to do the trick, he told himself. It had better. It was about time that something worked properly. If the coneship he was aboard was a fair example of the breed, Selonian spacecraft weren’t much for reliability. Han engaged the power switch and waited for the inverter system to energize.
Han was starting to question his own sanity in volunteering to help fly this particular coneship down out of free space to the surface of Selonia. He could have said so long and good luck and ridden down with Leia on the Jade’s Fire. But when a job needed doing, and no one else could do it, volunteering was not really all that voluntary. He hadn’t had much choice in the matter. He couldn’t have left Dracmus high and dry. He had obligations to her, and to her people.
And Dracmus had made it clear they had to get this ship down. Her people couldn’t afford to abandon any spacecraft, no matter what shape the craft was in. The nameless coneship might be a piece of space-going junk, but Dracmus had assured Han that it was better than anything else the Selonians had at the moment. Or, more accurately, it was better than anything that the Hunchuzuc Den and their Republicists had.
“Hurry, Honored Solo!” Dracmus called again.
Why couldn’t that intercom break down the way everything else did on this ship? Han hit the answer button again. “Stand by, Dracmus. Pilot Salculd—watch your power settings!”
Knowing he was with the Hunchuzuc would have been a bit more useful if Han had had some clear idea about who or what the Hunchuzuc Den was. All he knew for sure about them was that the Den was part of an amorphous faction of Selonians who lived on Corellia, and that, so far as Dracmus knew, they were still allied to a pro-New Republic alliance of Selonian Dens called the Republicists, and that he was mixed up with them.
Dracmus was a member of the Hunchuzuc, and she had either kidnapped Han or rescued him from Thrackan Sal-Solo—or both. Han was still not sure. The Hunchuzuc seemed to be having a fight with the Overden, the leadership on Selonia proper, a fight that was going on in parallel with the Republic’s battle against the rebellions in the Corellia system, though the two fights did not seem to be directly related to each other. The Overden was on the Absolutist side, which wanted absolute independence for Selonia. But even if the Hunchuzuc were Republicist and the Overden were Absolutist, Han was coming to the conclusion that neither side much cared about principles, either way. Each was primarily against the other.
But Han did know a few things for sure. He knew that Dracmus had saved his life, and that she had taken risks to treat him well. He knew that a member of his own family—Thrackan Sal-Solo—had treated Dracmus’s people with the utmost cruelty. By Selonian standards, that alone was enough to brand Han himself as a villain, a killer, a monster. Yet Dracmus had given Han every benefit of the doubt. She had treated him with decency and respect. If that was all Han knew, it was also all he had to know.
“When will it be working?” Dracmus called, her voice growing more strident. “The planet is getting closer!”
“That is the idea when you’re trying to reenter,” Han muttered to himself. Decency and respect to one side, there was no denying that Dracmus could be one major pain in the neck. Han pressed the answer stud again and spoke. “It’s working now. Tell Salculd the inverter is back on-line. Have her power up the control circuits and let’s see how it goes.”
“We shall do so, Honored Solo,” said the faint, worried-sounding voice from the comm unit. “Salculd says she is initiating control circuit power-up.”
Han was kneeling down in front of the inspection hatch, and a low-powered hum made him think he might be just a bit too close to the inverter array. He stood up and backed away. The hum faded out after a moment, and the array’s indicator lights came on, showing normal operation.
Han pressed down the answer button again. “Don’t hold me to this,” he shouted, “but I think it’s working. The spare parts off Mara’s ship did the trick. We ought to be able to get underway anytime you like.”
“Good to hear, most Honorable Solo,” Dracmus said, the relief in her voice almost painfully obvious. “Very good to hear indeed. We shall proceed at once.”
The indicators flickered a bit to show the inverters were drawing more power. �
��Take it easy up there,” Han said. “Throttle up nice and slow, all right?”
“We are doing so, Honored Solo. And we shall hold at one-third power. We have no desire to overload our systems again.”
“That’s very reassuring,” Han said. “But I think I’d better head up there and keep an eye on you just the same.”
Han crossed to the access ladder and climbed up to the nose cabin of the coneship.
The coneship was just that—a fat cone, with the engines at the base and the control cabin in the point. The nose itself was nearly all transparent transplex, affording a spectacular overhead view. The pilot, Salculd, lay flat on her back, looking up and out at the sky ahead. For a human pilot, it would not be the most comfortable way to work. Of course, Selonians were most decidedly not human.
Salculd looked over to the lower deck access hatch as Han climbed out of it. She gave him a toothy smile and then returned her attention to her work. She looked comfortable enough. Dracmus was pacing at the rear of the cabin, looking anything but calm or relaxed.
Though they were fairly standard bipeds, Selonians were taller but thinner than humans. Their arms and legs were shorter, and their bodies rather longer. They could manage equally well walking on two feet or four. Retractable claws in both their hand-paws and foot-paws made them impressive climbers and diggers. Their tails were only about half a meter long, but they packed a major wallop when used as a club—as Han had reason to know.
They had long, pointed faces, and their entire bodies were covered in sleek, short-haired fur. Dracmus was dark brown. Salculd was mostly black, but her belly fur was light brown. They both had bristly whiskers that were as expressive as human eyebrows, once you got a little practice in interpreting them. They also had mouths full of very sharp teeth. Han had been able to interpret the teeth with no practice at all. In short, they were elegant and impressive-looking creatures.
Star Wars: The Corellian Trilogy III: Showdown at Centerpoint Page 1
