Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights 01_ Jedi Twilight - Michael Reaves [41]
It didn’t take long for the Quarren to be defeated. The morose Squid Head turned back to the bar, and the Yevetha looked at Nick. “Care to play?” he croaked.
“I’ll give it a whirl.” Nick stepped up to the control panel that the Quarren had just vacated.
“Configuration?” the Yevetha asked.
“Hot Bespin.”
The rules of the game were fairly simple. Within the holosphere was a stylized image of a solar system; when starting the game, the players could choose setups based on known systems, or create their own. There were four types of worlds: gas giants, twin worlds, planets, and moons. In the sphere’s center was the primary. Each player controlled a comet, which was the only object in the game that could change course.
The game began with the planets in established orbits. There were several different configurations, with the “hot Bespin” scenario generally considered the most difficult. The object was to use one’s comet to impact the various worlds, and be the first to send them spiraling into the system’s star.
Nick interlaced his fingers and cracked his knuckles. He shrugged, loosening his neck and shoulder muscles, then settled into a relaxed stance before the control stick. The Yevetha watched, his black eyes as expressionless as stones.
Nick lined up his comet and took his first shot. It struck one of the planets, ricocheting toward the outer reaches while the planet spun out of the plane, settling into an elliptical orbit.
Each of the worlds had different properties. The gas giants were massive, and thus possessed greater inertia; a direct impact shifted one of them only slightly. A hot Bespin orbited extremely close to the primary, whipping about it faster than the others, making it more difficult to send an outlying world caroming to a fiery end, whereas a cold Bespin, orbiting in the system’s outer reaches, tended to intercept the comets and protect the inner worlds. Binary worlds, orbiting about a barycenter, could be separated by a properly angled shot, and either or both dropped into the primary’s gravity well. Ordinary planets presented no particular challenge, while moons were the smallest and most difficult to hit; they also had a tendency to be captured by the other worlds. A moon was usually the last one to be incinerated, thus ending the game.
It was soon apparent to Nick that his opponent was very skilled at shronker. It was equally apparent to them both that Nick was better.
The game gradually drew the attention of the other patrons, partly due to the virtuoso playing by both Nick and the Yevetha, and partly to the marked difference in their attitudes. Nick was casual and relaxed; after another mug of ale he was even verging on garrulous. He complimented his opponent on the particularly well-placed shots and modestly decried his own abilities, though it was obvious to those watching that he was the better player.
The Yevetha said nothing during the entire game, but his expression grew more and more intent—or so Nick assumed; the skeletal alien’s physiognomy was close enough to humanoid to have similar body language. It was said that Yevetha were quick studies. This one must’ve been left in orbit when that particular facility was passed out, Nick mused. The Yevetha’s game did improve somewhat toward the end, but by then it was too little and too late. The last globe—a green-and-blue world—went tumbling down the steep incline of space–time into the inferno at its center.
The Yevetha was still. The room was silent. And Nick was drunk, which was why he ambled around the now empty holosphere, extending his right hand as he said, “Hey, excellent game, you almost had—”
The Yevetha moved fast; Nick barely got his arm out of the way as