Showdown at Centerpoint by Roger MacBride Allen

Author:Roger MacBride Allen [Allen, Roger MacBride]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-79617-2
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2011-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Evasive Maneuvers

Han Solo paced the ground, back and forth, back and forth, the gravel crunching underfoot. He almost tripped over Artoo once or twice, until he managed to shoo the droid out of the way. “Go over this one more time,” he said, turning to Dracmus.

The Selonian had joined Han, Leia, Luke, and Mara for dinner on the grounds of the villa. By all rights, they should have been lounging about the table, relaxing in the gentle breezes of perfect twilight, after a first-rate dinner.

But Han just couldn’t do it. It seemed utterly criminal just to be hanging around, lolling in the lap of luxury, while the whole star system was falling to pieces.

Everyone kept telling him that there was nothing they could do but wait, but Han had had enough of waiting about five minutes after Luke had told them about Centerpoint.

“I know I need to understand the situation,” said Han, “but I also know I’m completely lost. So please. Explain to me why it’s in our best interest to just sit here and wait. Explain to me what it accomplishes.”

“Yes,” said Luke. “Please do. I’d like to hear this.”

“Very wellness,” said Dracmus, “let me be trying it again. You have to start with knowing the idea that the three things that matter most to Selonians are honor, consensus, and the Den. All else comes behind those three. Everything, and far behind.”

“All right, that much I get,” said Han. “But what’s that got to do with why having the Triad Selonians on repulsor duty was such a big deal?”

“Merely everything, that’s all,” said Dracmus. “The Triad Selonians on Sacorria descend from despised offshoot of a bloodline discredited long ago. I will not be going into the whole history, but suffice to be saying that the ancestors of the Triad Selonians disputed a just settlement in a matter of vitalness, centuries ago. Some of them tried to lie and cheat their way into a position of advantage over other members of their own Den. As a consequence, the Den was split up into two groups—the victims of the fraud and the nasty perpetrators. The perpetrators were kicked off Corellia by my ancestors, the ancestors of the Hunchuzuc, and also removed from Selonia by the Overden. So bad was the scandal that the victims formed a new Den under a new name, because the old name was utterly dishonored. Even now I must not speak it. It is obscenity, only to be used when time is right for splendidly rotten insult. This name-losing had never happened to any other Den ever before, and it has never happened again since.”

“It doesn’t seem quite fair to blame people for what their ancestors did,” said Luke.

“Is muchly more fair for Selonians than humans, I am believing. Remember that the Den is all. The Den lives on while the individuals die. Also recall that the new individuals are virtual clones of the old ones. You humans tend to think of a Den as collection of individuals.

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