by Greg Keyes
Bonadan. What was your blazing hurry? "
"I made a promise," Tahiri said.
"A promise? To what, a marsh spider?"
"No. To a Shamed One."
"A Yuuzhan Vong?" His tone was incredulous, but then his face registered
his mistake. Everyone was still getting used to exactly who she was now.
That didn't mean she was going to let him off the hook.
"I made a promise to a person" she said. "Because it was the right thing
to do."
Han closed his eyes and looked momentarily very, very tired. "If I could
name the times I've heard that right thing to do line... Tahiri, you're too
young for this. You've been through a lot. Can't you just-just-take a rest?"
"Good advice," Leia interposed, taking Tahiri by the shoulders. "Can't
you see how tired she is? Why don't we talk about this after she's been to the
'fresher and caught a nap? It can wait that long, can't it, Tahiri?"
"Yes, "Tahiri said.
"But..." Han began, but Leia cut him off.
"My husband is just trying to tell you he was worried about you and he's
glad you're home."
"I know," Tahiri said. "And I appreciate it."
Han's face softened, and then set into lines of reluctant acceptance.
"Well, yeah. But I still think-"
"Why don't you get cleaned up, Tahiri, and we'll have a bit of dinner. We
can talk more then."
"It is good to have you back, Mistress Tahiri," the golden droid assured
her as she made her way toward the refresher.
"Thanks, Threepio," she said. "It's good to be back." She meant it. She'd
grown up on Tatooine and in a Yuu-zhan Vong creeche, she'd studied the ways of
the Jedi on Yavin 4, but more and more the Millennium Falcon felt like home.
It was a feeling both comfortable and unsettling, but from what she'd
gathered, that was a large part of what home was all about.
"I hope you weren't injured in your travels," C-3PO went on.
"No, I'm just a little banged up. And tired."
"Well, now you can rest. And, I must say, Onih k'leth mof'qey."
That sent a little shock through her.
"Don't..." she began, but cut herself off. This was not an abomination-it
was 3PO.
C-3PO caught the sudden anger in her tone, however.
"I'm dreadfully sorry, Mistress Tahiri. I only wanted to-
"Make me feel welcome," she guessed, "both as a human and a Yuuzhan Vong.
"
"Yes, mistress."
"It's okay, Threepio. I'm still working the bugs out of this. It's just,
hearing a droid speak that language-
"Oh, yes. I understand how the Yuuzhan Vong feel about droids. In the
future I shan't-"
"No. Like I said, it's okay. These are exactly the things I have to face.
"
And hope I can.
"Very well," C-3PO said, with extravagant relief. "But, if I may ask, is
the integration of your former personalities... complete?"
Tahiri smiled. "It's complete. But it's like-like being raised by parents
who taught you one set of values, and then learning a different set of values
in school. Which is right? There are conflicts in what most people feel and
be-lieve. I'm no different in that respect, maybe just a little more extreme.
Do you understand?"
"I believe so."
"Part of me was raised to believe that machines-especially thinking
machines-are abominations. But that's just something I learned. It's not part
of who I am. It's not part of the Yuuzhan Vong on any intrinsic level, either-
it's just what the leaders and priests teach us as crechelings. It's something
that can be unlearned, that must be unlearned, because it's wrong. You're my
friend, Threepio, or at least I hope you are. And if, now and then, I have an
unthinking reaction to you, I truly hope you can understand and for-give me."
"Oh, very easily," C-3PO said. "Thank you for explaining it to me." His
voice shifted back to consternation.
"Oh, heavens, I'm holding you up when you should be resting. I'll go now.
"
"Wait, Threepio."
"Is there something else?"
"Just this." And she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.
"Oh, my," C-3PO said. But he sounded pleased.
She woke, not knowing exactly where she was. She lay still in the
darkness, letting the world return to her, solidify about her, fearing
something but not knowing what.
The Millennium Falcon, she thought. Right. That's where I am.
She glanced at the table chrono and realized she'd been asleep for almost
a standard day. Shaking off the dream-shroud, she pulled on her Jedi robes,
visited the 'fresher, and then went looking for Han and Leia.
She found them in the lounge, discussing something in low and somewhat
heated tones. She coughed softly, not wanting to eavesdrop.
The two turned toward her.
"Finally up, I see," Leia said. Her voice sounded a bit odd.
"Yeah," Tahiri replied. "I guess I was more exhausted than I thought."
"You ought to be," Han grunted.
"I'm ready to talk now, if that's okay."
"Why not?" Han muttered. "Have a seat."
She slid in next to Leia and clasped her hands together in front of her,
trying to think how to start.
"You said something about a promise," Leia prompted.
"Right." Briefly, Tahiri laid out the events on Dagobah.
"The Shamed Ones were looking for a planet," she said, when she was done
with the narrative. "A planet their Prophet thinks may bring them redemption."
"Dagobah? Why Dagobah?"
"These Shamed Ones sort of worship the Jedi. They found out somehow that
Anakin and Luke had been there-that it had something to do with their
training." Han raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting. How exactly would they
know that?"
"That's not hard," Leia said. "The Yuuzhan Vong have been obsessed with
the Jedi from the very beginning. We know they have good intelligence. Anyway,
the story about Luke meeting Yoda there isn't exactly a well-kept secret."
"But they were mistaken," Tahiri said. "Dagobah isn't the world the
Shamed Ones are looking for."
Han had the same expression on his face he usually wore playing sabacc.
"Oh? And what world do you think they are looking for?"
"The same one Master Skywalker was looking for. And found. Zonama Sekot."
Han's eyes widened slightly. Then he puffed and raised his hands in a
gesture of frustration.
"Leia," he said. "You tell her."
"Tell me what?"
Leia pursed her lips. "Kenth Hamner contacted us while you were asleep,
on a heavily coded channel. He wants to talk to you."
Kenth Hamner.
"The liaison between the Jedi and military? " She couldn't quite picture
his face. She seemed to remember it was long.
"Right."
"Did he say what it was about?"
"Not exactly," Leia said cautiously. "But it involves Zonama Sekot-and a
dissident movement within the Yuu-zhan Vong."
Han looked at her earnestly. "T ahiri, whatever it is, you don't have to
do it."
"Of course I do," Tahiri said. "I promised the Shamed One..."
"You promised him you would tell his Prophet about Dagobah," Han
i
nterrupted. "You made no promises con-cerning Zonama Sekot."
Tahiri smiled slightly. "My promise was one of izai, not one of strict
legality."
"What?"
"Izai is the essence of a promise. The Shamed One thought he had found
the planet foretold. I promised him that I would take this news back to his
Prophet. But Dagobah isn't the planet foretold. Therefore, the izai - the
essence of my promise-requires me to carry the news that the planet of
prophecy has been found."
Han pushed his palms into his face. "This is making my head hurt," he
said.
"I think I need to speak to Kenth Hamner," Tahiri said firmly.
"We're already on the way there," Han grunted. "But I hope you know what
you're doing."
"I do."
"No," Han said, a little angrily, "you think you know what you're doing.
It's a conceit born out of being young. Jaina thinks she knows what she's
doing. Anakin thought he knew what he was doing."
"Anakin did know what he was doing," Tahiri said, softly. " If he hadn't
done it, there might not be a single Jedi alive today. I know I wouldn't be
here. Didn't you know what you were doing when you came back to save Master
Skywalker at the Death Star all those years ago?"
"I was older than you," Han said, rising from the table. He got up and
went toward the cockpit. But he stopped and turned, with one hand on the
hatch.
"And, to answer your question," he said, "no, I didn't have the faintest
idea what I was doing." He chuckled briefly, shook his head, and vanished into
the corridor. Kenth Hamner did indeed have a long face. He also had a firm
handshake, and an office so spare it might have been a storeroom. The view was
interesting, though. His window looked down upon a landscape of bloodred and
black swirled together, laced over with silver coils and me-anders of tide
creeks and pools. Beyond that, jagged black mountains sawed at a sky the same
metallic color as the water.
Land was scarce on Mon Calamari, but often dramatic.
"Salts," Hamner said, noticing her interest. "When this island was
forming, there was a lot of volcanic activity-and geysers the size of
volcanoes. Those deposits are mil-lions of years old."
Tahiri nodded, preoccupied. What would the old Tahiri have thought of
this view? Or Riina? She found it beautiful, but where did beauty come from?
Not from the Force, be-cause the Yuuzhan Vong didn't know the Force, and yet
had concepts of beautiful and ugly.
It occurred to Tahiri that she had seen many things she thought of as
beautiful since her integration, but nothing she considered truly ugly. Was
that strange? Probably. But maybe ugly was a smaller concept than beautiful,
and the overlapping tastes of her dual origin had virtually canceled it out.
Kenth had turned his attention to Han and Leia, so she continued her
regard of the landscape.
"It's going to be a big push," Kenth was saying. "Exactly how big I'm not
at liberty to say."
"So soon after Fondor?" Han asked.
"The Yuuzhan Vong are off balance. It's a good time."
"Yeah," Han said doubtfully, "they're trying to defend too many worlds
with too few forces. I hope the Alliance isn't about to make the same mistake.
"
"Don't worry. This goal is doable."
"It's not an attack on Coruscant itself?" Leia asked.
"Nothing so ambitious," Kenth said.
Tahiri felt Leia's relief in the Force, and Han's, too. An at-tack on
Yuuzhan'tar would exact a horrific cost in ships and personnel, and whatever
was going on at the moment, Twin Suns-and Jaina-were sure to be in the thick
of it. After her "vacation" from the military, Jaina had insisted on re-
joining the fight. Tahiri had heard from her only once since she left, right
after the Battle of Fondor.
She missed Jaina. Han and Leia's relief was her own.
"Well, looks like the rest of the gang is here," a new voice interposed.
Tahiri spun from the window. A shortish, neatly goateed man stood there.
"Corran!"
"In the aging flesh," he said. "It's nice to meet you, Tahiri."
The surge of joy she'd felt at seeing the former CorSec officer faded a
little at the odd turn of phrase. So he knew she had changed, of course-and he
had that guarded look in his eyes. That was Corran-suspicion was as natural a
part of him as it was her. Still, it felt bad. He's wondering if I'm friend or
foe, she realized. That felt worse.
"I do remember you, Corran," she said, trying not to let the hurt and
anger show in her voice. "I'm just happy you're still talking to me after the
mess I got you into at Eriadu." She hoped the shared reference would set him
more at ease.
"There was plenty of blame to go around," Corran said.
"Anyway, I turned out okay. The Givin have written a po-etic theorem
about you, did you know that?"
"I shudder to think what that even means," Tahiri said. Hamner cleared
his throat. "I hate to break up the re-union, but-"
"Yeah," Han said. "What's this about, exactly?" Hamner set something on
the desk.
Tahiri recognized it immediately. "A Yuuzhan Vong qahsa," she said.
Hamner nodded, and stroked the cilia-covered knobs in the back. A face
suddenly extruded from the front, a Yuu-zhan Vong visage in miniature. Though
the detail wasn't that of a holograph, it was still clear that the face was
hor-ribly disfigured-and not in the way the Yuuzhan Vong preferred.
"A Shamed One," she murmured.
"We got this from a Yuuzhan Vong courier two days ago," he said.
"Intercepted?" Corranasked.
"No," Hamner replied. "It was sent to us."
"Sent?" Han echoed. "What's the story? Another ultimatum?"
"No. It's not from the official command structure. For some time now
we've known that there is an underground movement within the Yuuzhan Vong."
"It's from the Prophet," Tahiri said.
Kenth raised an eyebrow. "Yes. We've heard of him, of course, but it's
been unclear exactly what his goals are. While any division within the Yuuzhan
Vong weakens them, we've never known what the rebel attitude toward the
Galactic Alliance is. We know the Jedi figure into their creed, but little
more than that."
"Anakin started it," Tahiri said. "Or, in a way he did. He and Vua
Rapuung, when they rescued me on Yavin." Hamner nodded. "There were inchoate
movements after that, yes, but it's more recently-with the rise of this
prophet, 'Yu'shaa'-that the resistance has really taken on substance. He seems
to have unified the malcontents. There are even reports of sabotage and
assassination, especially on Coruscant." He folded his hands. "It's not the
origin of the cult that concerns us right now, but rather the motives of the
Prophet himself. Until this"-he nodded at the qahsa-"we haven't had much to go
on."
"And now you do?" Leia asked.
"I'll let you decide for yourself." He touched the qahsa again, and the
face animated, speaking in accented Basic.
"I greet you," the face said. "I am known as Yu'shaa, the Prophet. It may
be that you have heard of me, that I am
the leader of the Shamed Ones, those
accursed by the gods. That is true, so far as it goes. We are treated as
Shamed by our brethren-or by many of them. But we are not ac-cursed. Many of
us were once honored and commended by our people. Many of us made great
sacrifices for Supreme Overlord Shimrra. Yet we are treated with contempt be-
cause our bodies reject the modifications and implants the Yuuzhan Vong have
chosen as symbols of rank and pride.
"Before coming to this galaxy, we had little to hope for except
dishonorable death. We believed the lies our leaders told us. But now the
membranes have been torn from our eyes. We see that we may be redeemed by
redeeming our people.
"The Jedi taught us that. The Jedi show us the way. They fight not to
show their strength, but to help the weak. You may know that Anakin Solo
fought beside one of our own, Vua Rapuung, and restored his honor. Thanks to
the Jedi, we are not Shamed. Rather, it is Shimrra and the others who lead who
are accursed, who have set our people-and the people of this galaxy-on a
course that can bring only Shame to us all.
"The Jedi have helped us in the past. They have shown us a glimpse of the
true path. I have seen in dreams and visions where that path leads. It leads
to a planet, a planet that can I heal and redeem us, that can bring the mighty
down and raise up the humble and end the terror we all find ourselves enmeshed
in. It is the planet of prophecy. It is Zonama Sekot.
"I have seen this planet, but the gods have not granted me the ability to
find it. I do not despair, because I believe the j Jedi know where it is.
"Here is what I beg of you that you take me, and me alone, to the planet
of prophecy, so that I may see it for my-self, so I can know that my vision
was true. I wish also to I speak with the Jedi, and seek their counsel and
wisdom.
"Unfortunately, I do not have the means to come and go as I please. I
live within the clenched fist of Shimrra's hand, and shall need help escaping.
On the planet you once called Coruscant, I await your judgment. This qahsa
contains a schedule of times I might meet you in a secluded place. It also
contains what I have been able to gather about the planetary defenses of
Yuuzhan'tar. I give this as a gesture of good faith, but be war y-I am unsure
how complete the information is.
"I look to the stars, Jedi. I look to you. All our worlds can be better,
I am certain. I have information that can be of benefit-which might end the
