Star Wars The New Jedi Order - The Final Prophecy - Book 19

by Greg Keyes

  asked.

  "Locked in his cabin-praying, presumably," the priest replied.

  "Okay," Corran said. "Let's get everyone together. I-And then the ship

  screamed.

  FOURTEEN

  Qelah Kwaad abased herself before the polyp throne as the rumble of

  Shimrra's voice washed over her. She cringed and was ashamed.

  "Rise, Adept Kwaad," Shimrra said.

  Knees shaking, she did so. "Dread Lord," she said. "How can I please you?

  "

  "You already have. The mabugat kan were of your shaping, were they not?"

  "They were, Lord Shimrra," she said.

  "Master Yim brought them to my attention. She said you were the brightest

  of her pupils."

  "She did?" Qelah was surprised. She had always thought Master Yim was

  jealous of her.

  "We have used them with great success. The infidels are now largely

  without long-range communications. It has been an invaluable aid to our war

  effort."

  "Thank you, Lord. I am pleased to have been of service."

  "Of course you are," Shimrra growled reproachfully, and his Shamed jester

  capered gleefully.

  She felt like cowering back into a crouch, but the Dread Lord had bid her

  stand, so she stood her ground.

  "The loss of Master Yim was a great blow," Shimrra went on. "But her work

  must continue. You will be elevated to master."

  Qelah hoped her fierce exultation did not show.

  "I am not worthy of the honor, Great Lord, but I will do my best to

  excel." She knew she was babbling, but she couldn't stop. "I have developed a

  new sort of ship, one that should counter many of the new strategies of the

  infi-dels. And as for the Jeedai..."

  "What of the Jeedai?"

  The words came out with such force that her tendrils felt as if they were

  being swept back, but this time she was not dismayed.

  "I believe I have an answer to them," she said.

  "Besides the mabugat kan, I have for some time been de-veloping a

  powerful new suite of bioforms designed specifi-cally to counter the threat of

  the Jeedai. I am not far from completion."

  "That has been promised before," Shimrra said. "But the promise has never

  been fulfilled. Those who fail me do not find favor."

  She understood that lack of favor also meant lack of breath, but she

  plunged on. "I am certain you will be pleased, Dread Lord," she told him.

  "Very well. You will ascend to master tomorrow. You will work directly

  beneath Ahsi Yim."

  Qelah took a deep breath. She had a chance at more. Could she flinch from

  taking it?

  No.

  "Yes, Lord," she said. "A member of Nen Yim's domain."

  Shimrra's mqaaq'it eyes flared a brighter red. "What could you mean by

  that, Qelah Kwaad? Do you imply something?"

  "Nothing, Lord," she said. "I spoke out of turn."

  "I hear something in your words, Qelah Kwaad," Shimrra said, dangerously.

  "Shall I rip open your mind and see what I find there?"

  "It is only that things have been strange," she said, in a rush. "Master

  Yim stayed apart from us, working alone.

  She was totally absorbed in some new project none of the rest of us knew

  about. And then the Jeedai came, and took her away, and whatever it was, I

  know not what, but Ahsi Yim..." She broke off.

  "Go on," Shimrra breathed.

  "Ahsi Yim-did not seem surprised. And I heard her tell someone, They took

  the ship."

  In fact, Ahsi Yim had seemed as surprised as anyone, and she had said no

  such thing. It was actually a warrior who had told her he'd seen a strange

  ship fly out from the damutek. By now, everyone knew it.

  "You think Ahsi Yim had some part in Nen Yim's kidnapping." She lifted

  her head and spoke more boldly. "If it was a kidnapping, Lord Shimrra. The

  damutek's defenses failed. I do not see how infidels could accomplish this."

  "The Shamed heretics were also involved," the Supreme Overlord pointed

  out.

  "With respect, Lord-would they know how to disable a damutek's defenses

  and leave no trace of how it was done? I could not do so. Was some shaper

  greater than Nen Yim Shamed, that this knowledge would reside with the rabble?

  "

  Shimrra somehow seemed to tower even higher, filling the room, the world,

  the universe.

  "What do you know?" he thundered, and she suddenly realized she had

  somehow misstepped. "What do you know of the stop?"

  A great invisible claw seemed to clamp about her head, its grip growing

  swiftly tighter. She felt the joints of her body twitching strangely. Her

  nerves turned to fire, and she sought something, anything to say, and anything

  that would turn his gaze away from her. If he had asked her at that moment if

  she was lying, she would have admitted it, admitted that her words were

  nothing more than thud bugs cast toward Ahsi Yim, so that Qelah Kwaad might be

  master shaper.

  But he hadn't asked that. He'd asked about the ship.

  "Nothing more than that it exists!" she moaned.

  "Nen Yim told you nothing of its origins or nature?"

  "Nothing, Dread Lord," she gasped, swaying. "She stayed to herself! She

  did not speak of it!"

  The pressure suddenly dropped away. The pain recoiled itself back into

  her brain.

  "Your ambition is clear," Shimrra murmured. "But you raise interesting

  points. They bear investigation." He glanced at Onimi. Then he looked off at

  some unseen thing above her.

  "Go," he commanded. "Return tomorrow and learn your fate."

  She left. When she returned the next day, she was again directed to take

  up her master's hand, and she never saw Ahsi Yim again.

  FIFTEEN

  The ship's scream was a distant thing somewhere in the back of Corran's

  mind. The thudding jolt of sudden hyper-drive decantation was more immediately

  tactile.

  "What the..." He leapt up and stumbled toward the helm.

  "Are we under attack?" Harrar asked.

  By that time, Corran could see stars through the trans-parent canopy. "I

  don't know," he said. "But given my luck so far on this trip, I wouldn't doubt

  it."

  "This region isn't charted," Tahiri said. "Maybe we hit a gravitic

  anomaly."

  Corran bit back a reprimand for telling that much, but decided to take

  his own advice and not dress the young woman down in front of the Yuuzhan

  Vong. "We're in charted space," he said, instead. Which was true, barely.

  "Then what could it be? "

  "Dovin basal interdictor mine, maybe. The Yuuzhan Vong have them set up

  all along the major routes to pull ships out of hyperspace."

  "Right. Millennium Falcon got pulled out by one on the Corellian Trade

  Spine."

  "Yep. Let's hope we have an easier time of-oh, Sith spawn." He'd been

  rolling the ship to try to discover the cause of their sudden reversion. Now

  he saw it.

  It wasn't what he was expecting.

  He was staring down the pointy end of a white wedge larger than many

  planetbound cities, and he suddenly felt much younger, not in a good way.

  "That's an interdictor, all right," he said. "An Imperial interdictor."

  "I suppose there's something to be said for not ju
mping to hasty

  conclusions," Harrar put in, a bit sarcastically.

  "No apologies," Corran said. "It was still a good bet. This, on the other

  hand..."

  "But aren't they our friends now?" Tahiri asked.

  Corran snorted. "Friends? No. Allies, yes." He pushed the engines and

  went into a series of extemporaneous maneuvers as salvos of coherent green

  light flashed around them.

  "Either way, should they be firing at us?"

  "No, and maybe they wouldn't be if we weren't in something much more like

  a Yuuzhan Vong ship than anything else they've seen. Or if we could hail them

  and tell them who we are, but I don't see a comm in this thing, unless our

  shaper friend has hidden it like she did the rest of the con-trols. As it is,

  we'd better put a little distance between us and that thing."

  "What's it doing way out here?"

  "I'm not even sure where 'here' is," Corran grumbled, "but I've got a

  good idea why they're here."

  "Why?"

  "Can't say. Top secret."

  Kenth might have told me a bit more about the war plans. I should have

  figured the push would be in this sector. Bil-bringi, maybe? That Interdictor

  must be part of the Imperial force. But why is it alone? Watching the back

  door? Didn't matter. They couldn't talk to it and they sure couldn't fight it,

  so their only choice was to run like crazy.

  "What is wrong?" Nen Yim appeared from aft.

  "We've just been yanked out of hyperspace by the Impe-rials." Such a

  familiar thing to say, he reflected. Almost comfortable. What a ridiculous

  thought. Was he actually nostalgic for the war against the Empire?

  "The Imperials?" Nen Yim said. "I'm no tactician, but aren't they.... ah.

  They think this is a Yuuzhan Vong ship."

  "The lady takes the hand," Corran said. A laser seared along the vessel's

  side, and he fought for control.

  "Jump to hyperspace," Nen Yim said. "I see no nearby planets."

  "I can't. It's an interdictor-it'll pull us right out again and probably

  fry the engines as well."

  "Not necessarily," Nen Yim said.

  "No, interdictors work just fine on Yuuzhan Vong hyper-drives. It's

  simple physics."

  "Yes, but-" She suddenly stopped.

  "What?" Corran shouted back over his shoulder. "I seem to remember you

  were going to jump from the bottom of a gravity well. But if you've got

  something, let me know."

  "You must give me your promise of secrecy," the shaper said, her spooky

  hair doing particularly spooky things.

  "I can't do that." Corran sighed. "Not if you've got something that can

  be used against us."

  "I certainly cannot divulge war secrets to you without your vow of

  secrecy," Nen Yim said.

  "Why not? Aren't we trying to end this war? Isn't that what this mission

  is about?"

  The ship shuddered and bucked as laser fire hammered its hull.

  "The war isn't over yet," the shaper reminded him.

  "Master Yim," Harrar interjected. "If we die, and our mission fails..."

  "What mission?" Nen Yim snapped. "He won't take us to Zonama Sekot. He's

  taking us to Mon Calamari, probably to be imprisoned. I would rather die here,

  especially if it prevents placing yet another weapon against us in their

  hands."

  "We are going to Zonama Sekot," Corran shouted. "We're on our way there

  right now. But it's going to be a mighty short trip if something doesn't

  change soon."

  Nen Yim's brows lowered dangerously. "Is this true?"

  Harrar gripped the shaper's arm. "I do not fear death any more than you

  do, Nen Yim. But if you would see this planet..."

  "It is untested," she said. "A variant of a shaping one of my apprentices

  developed. I created it to use against any Yuuzhan Vong ships that might

  follow us, but now I see it might be used against one of your interdictors."

  "Well, let's find out!" Corran said. "Because in about ten seconds..."

  Nen Yim nodded and slipped on her cognition hood.

  A moment later Corran felt something pass through the ship and then-

  release.

  "What did we just do?"

  Nen Yim actually smiled. "If this works, the artificial gravitic anomaly

  should vanish in a moment. I suggest when the moment arrives, you take us into

  hyperspace."

  "Tahiri, lay in a microjump," Corran said.

  The young woman nodded and bent to the task.

  A laser tore through the cabin behind them, a direct hit that pierced

  both hulls. Air screamed away into vacuum, and Corran felt as if he had a hot

  wire through his gut. He could only imagine what a pilot truly attuned to the

  ship would feel.

  Then the wound healed, and the air stopped getting thinner. Neat trick,

  that. But he wondered what the ship's healing limits were.

  And got an answer, of sorts, from the ship itself. Another hit like that

  would be too much.

  "We're no longer being held," Tahiri said.

  "Life is good," Corran replied, and punched them to where the stars

  didn't shine.

  "I don't suppose you're going to tell me what that thing was?" Corran

  asked, as his pulse began to slow to some-thing approaching normal.

  "I don't suppose so, no," Nen Yim replied. "But its field test seems to

  have gone quite well."

  "Yes, congratulations," Corran said. How long before you use it against

  us? Well, at least he knew it existed, whatever it was, and unless she was

  lying it was a prototype, not likely being used at this very moment against

  the Galactic Alliance.

  "This is making my head spin," he muttered.

  "What?" Nen Yim inquired.

  "Nothing."

  "Not to interrupt," Harrar said, "but I'm wondering if what you said

  about our destination is true?"

  Corran turned and noticed that the Prophet had joined them.

  "Yes," he said. "It's been our destination from the very first."

  "You deceived us," Nen Yim accused. "Why?"

  The Prophet drew himself to his full height and crossed his arms. "To see

  how we would react," he said. "If we had tried to force the location of the

  planet from him, then he would have known we were not to be trusted, and we

  would never have finished the trip." He looked pointedly at Corran. "Isn't

  that correct, Jeedai Horn?"

  "That about sums it up," Corran replied. "That's a pretty savvy analysis

  for a holy man."

  "Understanding is the essence of enlightenment."

  And also the basis of espionage, Corran added to himself. wonder what

  your job used to be before you were a Prophet.

  Maybe Tahiri could tell from-something. He made a mental note to ask her

  later.

  "How far, then, are we from our destinatio n?" Harrar asked.

  "I'm not certain, because we have to proceed in small jumps for a time.

  Probably a few days."

  The next jump brought them to the fringes of an un-named star system. The

  primary appeared as a tiny blue I sphere, but around it sparkled a vast ring

  that shone as if it were made of a few hundred trillion corusca gems. Tahiri

  watched in fascination. Sometimes it seemed cloudlike, some-times almost

  liquid.

  "You must have seen many such wonde
rs," Nen Yim said. Tahiri had heard

  the shaper's approach, but hadn't turned. "Doesn't matter," she said. "Every

  star system is unique. Every star system has its own beauty."

  "This one certainly has. Is that ice?"

  "I would imagine," Tahiri said. "I wasn't trying to figure it out-I was

  just enjoying the sight of it."

  "Perhaps the system is poor in heavy elements. The original torus of

  matter condensed into ice balls, which were then torn apart by tidal forces."

  "Maybe a wandering giant made it as a wedding gift fora nebula," Tahiri

  said.

  "Why should you assert such a ridiculous explanation?" The shaper seemed

  truly puzzled.

  "Why must you pick everything apart?" Tahiri asked.

  "Besides, if you believe Yun-Yuuzhan made the universe from his severed

  body parts, you ought to be able to believe anything."

  Nen Yim was silent for a moment and Tahiri thought the conversation was

  probably over.

  "Belief is a strange thing," the shaper said at last. "It has immense

  inertia. My master did not believe in the gods at all."

  "And you?"

  The shaper's headdress tendrils knotted thoughtfully.

  "Religion, I think, is metaphor, a way of relating to the uni-verse that

  does not require reason. It's not very different from your appreciation of

  this star system for its mere ap-pearance. My joy comes in understanding.

  You're right-if I could take the universe apart and put it back together, I

  would."

  "And thus rob yourself of half the wonder," Tahiri said. Nen Yim snorted

  disdainfully. "Wonder is you making up stories about giants and wedding gifts,

  " she said. "Wonder is my people attributing the creation of the universe to

  an act of dismemberment. It is avoiding true mystery through fantasy. And if

  the universe refuses to conform to your fan-tasy, does it cease to be

  wonderful? That is a conceit of the highest order."

  "Your own explanation was no better than a guess."

  "True. But it is a guess that can be investigated and tested. It is a

  guess I will gladly relinquish if proven wrong. It is a guess that will serve

  as a tool to help me find the truth. For me, that is a far greater wonder than

  anything taken on faith."

  "So you don't believe in the gods?" Tahiri asked.

  "I think there must be something behind them that is real. I do not think

  they are real in the orthodox sense."