Showdown At Centerpoint

by Roger MacBride Allen

  of his own destruction. It had nearly happened in the recent past, and the

  odds seemed fairly high that it would happen in the near future. Under the

  circumstances, deliberately shutting oneself off seemed the height of folly.

  Suppose one component had failed, or was on the verge of failing, and his

  diagnostics had missed it? Suppose he loaded a timed wake-up event, went

  into standby, and then the wake-up command was never implemented? In short,

  he had no desire to turn himself off when he was not confident he couid turn

  himself back on again. Clearly, it was an absurd state of affairs, but there

  it was. Q9 was afraid to go to sleep. He settled in to wait some more.

  Gaeriel Captison stood on the hangar deck of the Sentinel, next to the Lady

  Luck. "I don'l think there's any argument about what we should do," she

  said. "We go on to Drall, and rendezvous with the Intruder."

  ugrave;'Absolutely,'5 said Lando. "If someone has already found a repulsor

  there, that is the place to be."' "Not for me it isn't." said Jenica.

  "Sentinel and Defender are keeping watch on Centerpoint Station, and I'm the

  closest thing to an expert on Centerpoint they're going to get. 1 stay

  here." Lando nodded. "You're right," he said. "Lieutenant Kalenda, what

  about you?" Kalendu cocked her left eyebrow up a bit and shook her head

  slightly. "A tough call," she said. "But at this point, I'd say my place is

  with Admiral Ossilege." So you can keep an eye on him? Lando wondered. "Good

  enough," he said. "Get aboard, then." "What about me?" Threepio asked.

  "Shall I continue on with you? It is more likely that my language skills

  will be more useful on a trip to Drall than here." Lando was sorely tempted

  to refuse and leave Threepio behind. But the irritating thing was that the

  droid might be right. Suppose they got to the repulsor and encountered Drall

  who didn't speak Basic? "Get aboard," he growled. Threepio trotted up the

  access ramp. Gaeriel and Kalenda said their farewells to Jenica and boarded

  the Lady Luck. Lando waited jusl a mo- ment before going aboard. There was

  something more he wanted to say to Jenica Sonsen, something he might not get

  the chance to say again. And by the amused look on her face, it seemed as if

  she was expecting him to say something. In fact, she said it first. "Is this

  the part where you tell me how you never met anyone like me, and how you

  want to get to know me better? That sort of thing? Maybe something about how

  we've been through a lot together, we've made a connection, and we shouldn't

  just let it drift away? Some nice, smooth line a lady couldn't help but fall

  for?" Lando couldn't quite tell if she was mocking him or daring him,

  warning him off or urging him on. The strange thing was it didn't matter. He

  had been shot down in romance plenty of times before, but there was a little

  piece of him that felt quite sure this would not have been one of those

  times. But this time, there wasn't going to be a this time. Lando sighed and

  shook his head. "There was a time, not very long ago, when I would have said

  those words, and meant every one of them--at least, while I was saying them,

  even if I sort of forgot them later. The problem is, I did say something

  very like them to another lady, very recently, and I did mean it at the

  time. The funny thing is, for the first time in my life, I'm catching myself

  jy/// meaning it. I might even mean it for a long, long time. So I'm afraid

  I'm going to have to back off." Jenica looked surprised-though not half as

  surprised as Lando felt. "You know," she said, "that might be the classiest

  speech of its kind on record. I think you've got yourself a very lucky lady

  out there, and I don't mean the Lady Luck." She stuck out her hand to shake,

  and Lando took it. "Take care of yourself, Lando. I must admit I almost wish

  you had made a play for me--just so I could know for sure what I would have

  done about it. Now I guess I'll never know." Lando smiled back, his

  broadest, most charming grin that showed every tooth in his head. "Neither

  will I," he said. "You take care of yourself too." He let go of her hand,

  boarded the Lady Luck, and made his way to the pilot's station. Gaeriel was

  waiting in the starboard observer's seat, and Kalenda was at the copilot's

  station. "So," said Kalenda as she ran the preflight check, "is she going to

  let you call her?" Her eyes never left the instruments, but there was just

  the hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. Lando wasn't sure, but he

  thought he heard a very un-ex-Prime-Ministerial giggle from behind him as he

  sat down. "Excuse me?" he asked. "Call her. You asked if you could look her

  up after this was all over. Did she say yes or no?" Lando felt himself

  blushing. Had it been that obvious? Was his reputation that bad? "Urn, ah,

  well-if you have to know, she asked if J was going to ask, and I said I

  couldn't. Promises made elsewhere." This time Kalenda did turn away from the

  instruments, to look straight at him. "You're kidding," she said, that

  disconcerting over-her-shoulder gaze of hers throwing him more than a little

  off. "Ah, no," said Lando. "I'm not. I don't know why I should tell you any

  of this at all, but that's what happened. Trader's Honor." Kalenda let out a

  low whistle and shook her head. "Well'then, Madame Prime Minister. It looks

  like our little bet is off. Captain Calrissian, why don't you get us out of

  here?" "Uh, um-right, yes," said Lando. He finished his own preflight check

  and gently lifted the Lady up onto her repulsors. There were definitely

  times and places when he realized that he still had a lot to learn about

  women. The Lady Luck left the hangar deck, gathered speed, and headed for

  Drall-and for the Intruder. Luke Skywalker eased the X-wing's throttle up to

  maximum thrust and kept it there. The dance of the orbits had put Selonia

  just about as close to Centerpoint and the Double Worlds as it ever got, but

  the distances were still great-and he was in a hurry. He, too, had wondered

  what the absence of the Intruder had meant, hut he had no lime to worry

  about it. He had a job and a duty. Bovo Yagen, and its millions of people.

  Now, at last, they had at least a hope of saving them. And if- if-they could

  stop the destruction of Bovo Yagcn, it might well mark the beginning of the

  end for the starbusler plot and the rebellions on the worlds of the

  Corellian system. But the galaxy had little interest in ifs. The universe

  concerned itself willi what did happen, not with what might. They had a

  slender chance here, but that was all. And the survival of those twelve

  million people might well depend nn how fast lie got to Selonia, and Lei a.

  Twelve million people. Luke remembered thinking, not so long ago, that in

  the galactic lime scale, what happened here scarcely mattered at all. All of

  recorded history, all the days of myth and legend before that time, were a

  blink in the cosmic eye. But twelve million people, twelve million lives.

  That many hopes, that many dreams and pasts, that many families, that many

  memories and histories that would vanish as well, as if they had never been.

  All the unborn generations that would never be born, all the promise, ali


  the potential, that would be gone, stolen from the galaxy's future. Surely

  it was wrong to destroy a star, something that old. that big, that powerful

  and complex and beautiful, just for the sake of some transient political

  advantage. Luke smiled. No one was going to use supernovas as weapons. Not

  during his eye blink of history. Not if he could help it. Artoo beeped and

  whirred in tones of warning, and Luke checked his display screens. "Oh,

  boy," he said, "company." A flight of eight Light Attack Fighters was

  climbing out of orbit to meet him. It was not the sort of trouble Luke

  needed just now. Maybe he could scare them off without getting too involved.

  Luke eased back the throttle of the X-wing and zeroed out his shields

  completely, shunting all the surplus engine and shield energy to his weapons

  system. Artoo let out a twittering squeal of protest. "Take it easy, Artoo.

  I'll have the shields back up before we're in range of their weapons.'' Luke

  had flown against LAFs not so long ago. He knew what they could do- and what

  they could not. The LAFs were overmatched by the basic X-wing, but not to

  the point where he cared to take his chances against eight LAFs

  single-handed. The best way for Luke to win this fight was to avoid it

  altogether. The trick now would be to convince them that Luke and his

  enhanced X-wing fighter put together were unbeatable rather than just very

  good. Luke reached out with the Force, extending his senses as far as he

  could, touching the minds of the Selonian fighter pilots, seeking not to

  manipulate their emotional state but to judge it. The Selonian temperament,

  with its desire for group consensus, was not one much given over to the

  strains of battle. They did better when fighting alone, on behalf of a

  group, rather than as part of a group fighting side by side. He felt at once

  that the Selonian pilots were nervous, jumpy, unsure. From two or three of

  their minds he detected the sensation of returning to a place of doom and

  fear. At a guess, those were veterans of the recent fight against the

  Bakurans, veterans who had just barely come back. It was enough. If Luke did

  this right, then everyone would come back from this one. They might not

  enjoy it, but they'd be alive. Luke checked his power displays. Weapons

  power was at maximum. Luke shifted all his shield generation power and

  weapons-charging power into the propul- sion system, and throttled up to a

  hundred twenty percent of maximum rated thrust. The X-wing leapt toward the

  LAFs at terrifying speed. Two of the LAFs fired at him, panicky unaimcd

  shots that went completely wild. One of them nearly shot his own wing-man.

  Luke knew the chance he was taking, flying without shields. If one of those

  random shots turned lucky and managed to connect-well, that would be too

  bad. Best to 117 to get this over with before anything like that could

  happen. This one would require all his skill, all his ability in the

  Force-and a fair amount of luck as well. Luke disengaged the firing

  computer, shut his eyes, and aimed the X-wing by feel, by instinct, through

  the Force. Once, twice, three times, he fired. Three turbolascr bursts leapt

  out. One, two, three, the bursts hit the LAFs, catching each of them square

  on the ventral weapons pod. Suddenly three of the LAFs could fly, but could

  not fight. It was flying, and shooting, intended to send a message. / am

  faster than yon, bigger than you, have better weapons than you, and can

  .shoo! from farther away. I could destroy you all if I chose io do so. I do

  not so choose. Do not make me change my mind. The three veterans got the

  message right away, it seemed, reversing course immediately and heading for

  home. Two of the other LAFs hesitated for a moment, then followed the

  others. That left three to deal with, and three was a lot better than eight.

  On the other hand, it left him facing the three pilots who were hardest to

  scare. The three of them were headed for him in a face-on triangle, one

  fighter at each angle of the triangle. They were rapidly closing to firing

  range. Luke throttled back enough to let him put his forward shields back

  on, but he didn't switch power back to weapons charging. One way or another,

  this engagement would be over before his weapons systems ran out of stored

  power. Suddenly Artoo began to whistle excitedly, and a text message began

  to scroll past Luke's display screen, much too fast for Luke to follow.

  "Artoo, what is it?" The droid's half-frantic beeping and whistling sounded

  in Luke's headphones. Luke checked his de-lector display, saw the three LAFs

  closing fast, and made a quick, easy decision about priorities. "Artoo,

  later/" Luke said. "I've got another problem right now. Whatever it is. it's

  going to have to wait." These three pilots weren't easy to scare, but they

  weren't the best tacticians, either. They were bunched up too close, too

  tight. A shot that missed one of them was almost bound to hit one of the

  others. Maybe he could use that. But he would have to do it before he got in

  under their firing range. Still unwilling to kill without need, Luke thought

  fast. Suddenly he thought he saw a way. He switched the fire control

  selector from LASER to TORPEDO, and rapidly punched in a series of commands,

  reprogram-ming one proton torpedo for distant proximity fusing. Suddenly all

  three LAFs fired at once, concentrated volley fire. It would seem the LAF

  pilots were managing to coordinate their fire in spite of the communications

  jamming. Maybe these pilots knew their business better than he thought. The

  laser blasts slammed into the X-wing, and Luke gave thanks that he had

  thought to reactivate the shields when he did. The X-wing's forward shields

  handled the multiple hits, but just barely. Luke knew he had to get out of

  here, and fast, if he was going to live through this. One last trick. He

  fired the reprograrnmed proton torpedo square into the center of the LAF

  formation. The X-wing shuddered slightly as the torpedo leapt away. Part of

  what Luke was counting on was the element of surprise. No one used proton

  torpedoes in fighter-to-fighter encounters. They were slower and less

  accurate-but more powerful-than turbolasers, intended for use against bigger

  targets. The three LAFs fired in volley again, the incoming laser blasts

  streaking past the outgoing torpedo. Luke's X-wing shuddered from stern to

  stern as the second laser volley slammed into it. Luke checked his shields

  and shook his head. The next volley would punch through his shield for sure.

  Luke cut his engines, letting the X-wing move on its own forward momentum

  alone. Let them think he had lost engine power. It might make him that much

  harder to find when- The proton torpedo exploded precisely in the middle of

  the LAF formation, lighting up the sky. no doubt blinding the pilots, at

  least for a second or two, and, with any luck, scrambling half their

  instruments as well. Luke reengaged his engines, accelerating at maximum

  power, right into the blast of the proton torpedo, right through the middle

  of the opposing fighter formation. The X-wing bucked and slammed and

  shuddered as it flew straight into the explosion's shock wave, i
ts weakened

  shields offering just barely enough protection. Luke flew into the blast of

  the torpedo, hanging on for dear life as he rode the maelstrom. Then,

  suddenly, it was over. He was through, clear, safe. Luke checked his

  detector screens. Two of the LAFs were tumbling, clearly disabled, at least

  for the moment, while the third seemed to be in only marginal control. One

  of the disabled fighters seemed to be starting to recover as he watched, but

  Luke knew better than to stick around to sec how it all came out. He came

  about on a new heading, straight for Selonia. Luke breathed a sigh of

  relief. That one had been just a bit too close. There were times when the

  advantages of being a Jedi Master could turn around and bite you, no doubt

  about it. A regular fighter pilot without the power to use the Force

  wouldn't have felt any moral obligation to risk his own life while using the

  Force to spare his enemies. Luke smiled faintly to him- self. One of these

  old days, his moral obligations to spare life were going to get him killed.

  Artoo whistled again for his attention. Luke reconfigured his power levels

  back to normal distribution and leaned back in his pilot's seat. "Alt right,

  Artoo," he said. "What is it?" Artoo took control of the main status display

  screen and showed him. The display paged to communications status, and Luke

  saw it there for himself. "The communications jamming is down!" he said.

  "But why- But Artoo answered Luke's question before Luke could finish asking

  it. The screen cleared again, and Artoo began playing back a message he had

  recorded even as Luke was chasing off the LAFs. A grinning, stylized human

  skull with a knife between its teeth appeared on the screen, with a blaring

  shout of triumphal music behind it. Luke recognized the skull. The symbol of

  the Human League. The skull faded out, to be replaced by the only somewhat

  more pleasant features of a smiling Thrackan Sal-Solo. But Luke was not

  smiling as he listened to what the man had to say.

  CHAPTER E LE V E N

  The Ripples Spread It was evening, and Kieyvits and Dracmus were just on the

  point of leaving. Han had lost count of the number of times they had come to

  eali, asking if Leia had changed her mind yet. This had to be the third or

  fourth visit already today. Clearly, they did not know when to give up.