Look to Windward

The Twin Novae battle had been one of the last of the Idiran war. Desperate to avert their inevitable defeat, the Idirans induced not one but two suns to explode, snuffing out worlds and biospheres teeming with sentient life. Gigadeathcrimes. But the war ended, and life went on. Now, eight hundred years later, light from the first explosion is about to reach Masaq Orbital, home to the Cultures most adventurous and decadent souls. There it will fall upon Masaqs 50 billion inhabitants, gathered to commemorate the deaths of trillions and reflect, if only for a moment, on what some call their own complicity in the terrible event. Also journeying to Masaq is Major Quilan--emissary from Chel—a world ravaged by the war with ever-dwindling resources and supply lines yet still churning out ships for the Culture fleet.