But there's one other thing you should know about them.
Chances are the only ones you'll ever see are going to be sterile females, and it's always a sterile female who's the boss. All their males, and all the females who can have children, have to stay at home, in the dens, all the time."
"That doesn't sound very fair," Jaina said.
"No, it doesn't-to a human," Han said. "Maybe it doesn't even sound that fair to some of the Selonians. But that's the way their society works. Lots of humans have tried to barge in and tell them to change their ways, but it just doesn't work."
"Why not?" Jacen asked.
Han laughed. "Oh no, you don't. Some other time. Ask me in about ten years or s(H"
"When I'm old enough to understand," Jacen said, rolling his eyes.
"Exactly. Anyway, there are the three main Corellian species. Every now and then a group from one world decides to move to one of the other worlds. So they pack up and off they go. Then, the next day, or a thousand years later, another group on another of the Brothers will decide to move, and off they go.
"Now all that's been going on for thousands of years.
Nowadays, all of the worlds are all scrambled up, with all the species on all of them. Sometimes, it's just one kind of people-humans or Selonians or Drall-in one town. Other places, like in Coronet, all three of the species live there.
Not only them, but species from a hundred other star systems besides. They all came to Coronet to buy and sell and trade." Han hesitated a moment, and a look of sadness came over his face. "At least there used to be that many traders from the outside," he said. "Things have changed, because of the war, and a lot of the traders left Coronet a long time ago."
"How did the war make it change?" Anakin asked.
Han thought for a moment before he answered. "It was sort of like those games where you set up a whole line of little tiles and then knock over the first one in line. The first one knocks over the second, and the second knocks over the third, and soon, until they all fall over, one after another.
Even before the war really got started, the navy found it harder and harder to keep enough patrol craft out in the space lanes. They kept getting called away to chase this bunch of Rebel raiders, or to show the flag in that outpost, or to deal with those crises. The more the navy wasn't there, the more the raiders and pirates showed up. The more the pirates chased the traders, the less worthwhile it was for the traders to do business. And when the traders went away, the trading went away, too, and lot's of people in the Corellian Sector got poorer and poorer.
"And then the war itself came," Leia said. "And the whole Corellian Sector might as well have built a wall around itself. The Emperor's Corellian government got scared," she said at last. "Not just scared of the Rebellion, but scared of everyone. They decided the safest thing to do was not to trust anyone at all. They decided they didn't want the traders. In fact, they didn't want any outsiders.
The sector's government stayed more and more to themselves. They didn't trust anyone else. The government started making up all sorts of rules to keep more and more things hidden and private. It got harder and harder to get the most ordinary sort of information, harder and harder for outsiders to send messages or visit any of the Corellian planets. And the Corellian leaders stopped trusting their own people, and put more and more of the same sort of restrictions on them. And with the Imperial government propping up the Corellian Diktat-that's what they called their chief of state-the Diktat could do whatever he wanted without any fear of the people protesting."
"But you guys won the war a long time ago," Jacen said. "Without the Empire, didn't the Diktat guy have to quit?"
Leia smiled at that. If only the universe were that tidy, that sensible, so that the losers knew when it was time to quit, and gave up once it was over.
"The Diktat never did quit," Leia said. "Not in the way you mean.
There wasn't a day when the Diktat got up in front of the cameras and announced his resignation. But once there was no more Empire to provide outside support, people started to be less and less afraid. They started doing what they wanted, instead of what the rules said they should do. The more people got away with breaking the rules, the braver they got, and the more rules they broke. The security forces didn't feel brave enough to stop it all-and they didn't want to go on shooting their own people. It all just sort of collapsed. The Diktat was still there in his palace giving out orders and demanding that people be executed, but no one listened anymore, and no one obeyed his orders."
"But what happened to him?" Jacen asked.
"Nothing much, really," Leia said. "The New Republic didn't want to arrest him. After all, the Diktat was the legal head of government.
Even if we had thrown him in jail, we would have angered a lot of the old loyalists we were trying to win over. We were still trying to decide what to do with him when he disappeared. We think he was taken off to one of the Outlier systems."
"What are Outliers?" Anakin asked.
"That's just the name for the star systems in the Corellian Sector that are sort of small and far away from Corell itself," Leia said. "The Outlier systems are so secretive they make Corellia look wide open. Lots of people from the sector's Imperial government ran off to them and just dropped out of sight. The Republic installed a new sector governorgeneral," Leia said, "a Frozian by the name of Micamberlecto, but when the Corellians held local elections, a lot of the old Imperial types got back into office."
"But can't you just kick the bad guys out?" Jacen asked.
"No," Leia said, "we can't, because, even if we don't like them, they followed the rules. The people elected them."
"So this Governor-General Micamberlecto is a good guy who has a lot of bad guys working for him, and he can't do anything about it," Jacen said.
Leia smiled. "That's about the size of it," she said.
"So how are you and Dad planning to fix it all?" Jaina asked.
That question threw Leia for a loop. It would seem that her daughter simply assumed that Leia was in charge of stomping out all wrongdoing. "Nothing directly," she said.
"If we went in and threw out all the elected officials we didn't like, we'd be just as bad as the Empire. Sometimes you just have to hold your nose and accept the situation.
But part of the idea of the trade summit is to make things tough for the bad guys in the future. They're the sort that do well when things are bad. They stir people up about their troubles. When things are going well, no one wants to elect that sort of rabble-rouser. We're hoping that if we can get trade going again, people won't have so many troubles for the wrong sort of candidate to exploit."
Jacen made a face and shrugged. "I guess I see," he said. "But won't the guys you want to throw out figure this stuff out, too, and try to stop you?"
"They sure will," Leia said. "So we'll just have to know more than they do, and think faster than they do."
"Anyway, getting back to Corellia," Han said, speaking just a little too loud so as to fill up the slightly awkward pause that had suddenly appeared in the conversation. "It's a strange and wonderful place. Like nothing you've ever seen before. Nothing at all like Coruscant."
And then he proceeded to tell the children all about the worlds of Corellia He told them about the glittering, wideopen city of Coronet, so unlike the oversized, overstuffed, covered-over city-planet of Coruscant. "On Coruscant, we're indoors all the time, practically," he said. "It's the capital of the galaxy, but you could live your whole life there without ever going outside to see the sky! Now, Coronet is different. It's lots of little buildings, with plenty of room in between. You can go outside all the time. The city is full of parks and plazas and palaces. And there's Treasure Ship Row, with all the vendors selling good things to eat, and the shops full of things to buy from all over the galaxyat least they used to be. Well, who knows, maybe they still are. .
Leia listened to Han, every bit as swept up in his words as the children. A city full of parkland an
d wide-open spaces sounded good to her. She had had enough of the troglodytic life of Coruscant for a while, whether or not the children had. And if Han didn't say much about the casinos and saloons and nightclubs and less reputable establishments that clustered around Coronet's spaceport, she knew they were there as well. Even if she would never go into them herself, they were part of the legend of the place, part of Corellia's rough-and-tumble heritage of smugglers and pirates.
There was a certain romance to such places. Maybe she would go into one or two of them, one night. She could get the children tucked into bed, get Chewie to watch them for the evening, dress in something the Chief of State would never wear, and then slip out with her husband, get him to show her some of the more grown-up playgrounds of Coronet. There could be no harm in taking in a show or two, or even trying her own hand at sabacc. But it seemed that Han had moved past Coronet while she was distracted, and was telling them about the other worlds.
"Will we get to see Selonia and Drall?" Jacen was asking.
"We sure will," Han promised. "Selonia and Drall and the Double Worlds, Talus and Tralus-maybe we can even get a look at Centerpoint Station."
"What's Centerpoint Station?" Jaina asked.
"Well, Talus and Tralus are called the Double Worlds because they are just the same size as each other. They orbit around each other. Centerpoint Station is in the balance point. the barycenter, between Talus and Tralus. You get quite a view from there."
"I'll bet," Jacen said.
"And then there's the Boiling Sea and Drall, and the Cloudland Peaks on Selonia, and the Gold Beaches on Corellia. You kids have never been swimming in a real, honest ocean, have you'? We can all go to the beach and build sand castles and go swimming in the great big ocean!"
`What about sea monsters?" Anakin asked, clearly a bit dubious about the swimming part.
"Well, that's why we'll go swimming on Corellia," Han said. He gave Jaina a little push and she hopped off his lap.
Han Stood up, went over to Anakin, and scooped him up in his arms.
"There aren't any sea monsters there. They keep all of them on Selonia, because the oceans are much bigger there."
"Honest'?" Anakin asked.
`Honest," Han said, quite solemn and sincere. "But I think it's time for certain little land monsters to get ready for bed, don't you'?"
That was enough to elicit a round of good-natured groans from the children, but for once, getting them ready for bed and down for the night was hardly a struggle at all. All three of them were suddenly yawning, struggling to keep awake long enough to get faces washed and teeth brushed, clothes off and pajamas on.
All three of them climbed willingly into their bunks, and snuggled happily into their pillows. Jacen and Jaina were already fast asleep, their breathing low and regular, by the time Han knelt down by Anakin's little bod, helped him pull the cover up over him, and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.
But sleepy as he was, Anakin was not quite ready to sleep yet.
"Daddy?" he asked.
"Yes, Anakin? What is it?"
"Daddy-when are we going to get there?"
CHAPTER NINE
Courting Disaster one. There could be no further doubt. Luke Skywalker was gone. Phamis Gleasry, agent of the Human League, could no longer deceive himself. The Jedi Master had not been home for at least a full day.
A check of Calrissian's not-all-that-well-hidden home in Dometown showed that it, too, was empty, and his ship, the Lady Luck, was no longer in its usual berth. Given that he had seen the two of them together the night before both had vanished from Coruscant, it seemed most likely that they had gone off together.
Phamis knew there was nothing for it but to follow the backup plan, as dicey as it might be. He would have to use the message probe and hope against hope the Jade's Fire stayed to its shipping schedule. OtherwiseOtherwise, the Hidden Leader was not going to be pleased. And that was not a pleasant thought. In fact, it might be best to get the probe sent, and then follow Skywalker's lead.
Given the Hidden Leader's temper, it might be wise to vanish.
"Did you have to bring them along?" Lando asked, not for the first time. The objects of his complaint, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, were on the opposite side of the Lady Luck's wardroom, and neither of them seemed to be any happier to be with Lando than Lando was to be with them.
Luke and Lando were sitting in the Lady Luck's wardroom table, relaxing after their meal. At least they were supposed to be relaxing.
Clearly the droids were getting on Lando's nerves.
Luke smiled to himself. There were other, legitimate reasons for bringing the droids along, but truth to tell, he had wanted them on this trip to twit Lando just a little, pay him back in the subtlest way possible for dragging him off on this lunatic scheme. He could never admit that to anyone but himself, of course, but still it was so.
But Threepio answered before Luke even had a chance.
"I assure you, Captain Calrissian, that my counterpart and I have demonstrated the highest degree of utility on any number of occasions. I might add that I in particular will doubtless be of the greatest possible use on a mission of romance. In addition to being familiar with over six million forms of communication, i have provided myself with additional programming. I have done extensive searches of data sources on Coruscant not generally available to the public.
I am now well versed in the courtship rituals of two thousand and forty-seven human cultures, as well as five hundred and sixteen nonhuman cultures."
"Put a lid on it," Lando said to the droid. "The day I ask your advice on how to treat a lady is the day I take a vow of chastity."
This remark not only clearly took Threepio aback, it also inspired a whole series of rather rude-sounding beeps and bloops from Artoo. "That's scarcely accurate, Artoo, and I doubt it's the sort of advice that Captain Calrissian had in mind in any event."
Artoo made an even ruder noise and backed away from Threepio just a bit as he swiveled his visual sensor toward Luke.
"Take it easy, Artoo," Luke said. "No need to be quite that insulting."
"Come on, Luke. Do we really have to put up with all this backchatter the whole trip? Can't we shut them down, or ship them home from the first port, or something?"
Luke smiled and shook his head no. "Every time I've brought the two of them along, I've been glad I did, Lando.
Trust me, they'll come in handy."
"Well, they'd better do it fast," Lando growled. "Otherwise they're going to keep an appointment with the spareparts bin."
"Come on, take- it easy. Besides, you've got another appointment to keep first," Luke reminded him. "We should be breaking out, `of hyperspace into the Leria Kerlsil system any time now.
Lando glanced at the chronometer. "Another fifteen minutes or so," he said as he stood up. "We ought to go forward to the cockpit." Threepio took a step forward, as if to follow, but Lando held up his hand. "Hold it right there, golden boy," he said. "You two stay safely locked up and out of the way here in the wardroom while we're flying the ship and while we're planetside. is that clear?"
"Perfectly, sir," Threepio replied, "but might I suggest that-"
"Good," Lando said, cutting him off. He turned toward the hatch. "You ever been to Leria Kerlsil?" he asked.
Luke shook his head as he got up to follow Lando.
"No," he said. "Not too much about it in the data banks I searched either."
"Well," said Lando, "we're about to find out more.
The hatch slid open and they headed for the cockpit.
* * * Threepio watched as the hatch slid shut behind the two humans-and was astonished to hear the click of a bolt sliding to. Captain Calrissian had locked them in. "Well!" he said. "This is not at all the refined sort of treatment I expected from Captain Calrissian, considering the circumstances. Rough-and-ready manners might be all right at a mining colony, but they certainly aren't the proper sort of thing for a gentleman searching for a wife. At least Mast
er Luke was kind enough to come to our defense."
Artoo let out a long, questioning series of bloops.
"What?" asked Threepio. "No, I didn't catch the name of the place we're going. No one ever tells me anything."
Artoo let out a low moan and then repeated his query a bit more slowly, with an extra flourish on the end.
"Well, if you noticed them saying we're going to Leria Kerlsil, why did you bother asking me?"
Star Wars - Ambush At Corellia Page 13