Showdown at Centerpoint

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
.

          R
OGER
M
AC
B
RIDE
A
LLEN
      April 1995
      Brasilia, Brazil

I
t 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 Republic 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 …