Star Wars - Edge of Victory - Book 1: Conquest

by Greg Keyes

  "Yes," the warmaster snarled. "The other. Solo. An­other Solo." He paced violently away from her, then turned back. "Master Yal Phaath disagrees with you, Adept. He claims that your master conspired in heresy, and that any results you obtained were stained by ungodliness."

  "Master Yal Phaath is a respected shaper. So was Mez­han Kwaad. She was never able to answer these charges, and I may not speak for her. But I tell you this, War­master. What we learned from the Jeedai was valuable. It has worth to the Yuuzhan Vong. The records in the damu­tek were destroyed, and my master is dead. Only I re­main to remember. That is why I secreted myself among the Shamed Ones, to protect that information."

  "You did so for no reason. The infidels took no captives."

  "No, Warmaster. But I could not know that at the time."

  "Agreed. They are a strange breed. They keep no slaves and make no sacrifices. They do not appreciate captives. They do not make war to obtain them. They consider them burdens or currency for the return of their own worthless kind. An ugly and godless motley of species."

  "If I may ask your opinion, Warmaster—why then did they not slay us once they had what they wanted? Corpses are no burden."

  "They are weak. They do not understand life and death." He waved the whole issue aside with the back of his hand, then returned his stare to Nen Yim.

  "This was badly bungled by shapers and warriors alike," he said. "If Tsaak Vootuh were not dead, I would kill him myself. And I should have you sacrificed."

  "If death is my lot, Warmaster, if that is what the gods desire, I embrace it. But I repeat—what we learned of the Jeedai here ought not to perish with me. Give me at least a chance to record what I know in a worldship qahsa."

  The warmaster's cruel eyes did not waver. "You will have that chance. It has been given you. Do not squander it as your master did here."

  "And if more Jeedai are captured? Will our work shaping them resume?"

  "Your domain has failed. They will not be given a second chance with the Jeedai. Domain Phaath will con­tinue the work on the Jeedai problem."

  Then it will never be solved, Nen Yim thought to her­self. She did not dare say this to the warmaster, of course. "And Domain Kwaad?" she asked instead.

  "The worldships are failing. They must be maintained."

  Nen Yim nodded solemnly, but in her belly she was sick. Back to the worldships, to closed skies and rotting maw luur, to masters so mired in the old ways they would let the Yuuzhan Vong perish rather than contem­plate change.

  So be it. But in her heart, Nen Yim still considered Mezhan Kwaad her master. Nen Yim would continue the work they had begun, somehow. It was too important. And if Nen Yim must die for this, she must. The glorious heresy would live on.

  "I submit to your will, Warmaster," Nen Yim lied.

  "One other thing before you go," Tsavong Lah said. "You spent some time among the Shamed Ones before the reoccupation force arrived. Have you heard of a new heresy amongst them, one concerning the Jeedai?"

  "I have, Warmaster."

  "Explain it to me."

  "There is a certain admiration for them, Warmaster. Many feel that Vua Rapuung was redeemed from Shamed status by the Jeedai Solo. Many feel their own redemp­tion lies not in prayer to Yun-Shuno, but in the Jeedai."

  "Can you name any who espouse this heresy?"

  "A few, Warmaster."

  "Name them. This heresy will die on this moon. If every Shamed One here must perish in glorious sacrifice, it will end here."

  Nen Yim nodded affirmation, but in her bones she knew the truth.

  Repression was the favored food of heresy.