manipulate.
“I must tread carefully,” Shimrra repeated, almost to himself. “When faith is under assault and the social order is cracking apart, the weak do not want explanations; they want reassurance and someone to blame.” He laughed quietly. “Ah, but I’m telling you what you already know. Look what wonders this worked with the Shamed Ones who have turned to heresy on Yuuzhan’tar and our other worlds. Do they want explanations? No! They cry out for my blood.”
Despite his best efforts, Nom Anor began to quiver.
“I see that my remarks frighten you, Prefect. Perhaps you think they smack of heresy, such as the Prophet preaches to his blind following. Would you lump me in with our own Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, or Shedao Shai and his sad devotion to the Embrace of Pain?”
“I know little of those things, Dread Lord.”
“Naturally.”
Nom Anor didn’t like the sound of it. Executions came easily to Shimrra, who was easily displeased. He had had shaper Ch’Gang Hool killed because of Hool’s seeming failure to govern the World Brain and prevent the itching plague. He had also executed Commander Ekh’m Val, who had discovered—or rather rediscovered—Zonama Sekot. Nom Anor himself had been targeted for execution because of his gullibility regarding Ebaq 9.
In the days since, his dreams of power and glory had been fulfilled, but what if Shimrra should decide to safeguard the secret of Zonama Sekot by having Nom Anor killed—just as Nom Anor had killed Nen Yim and the priest Harrar to safeguard
his
secret?
Shimrra was contemplating the lightsaber.
“A curious weapon, is it not? It requires the wielder to close with an enemy in personal combat. Were it not for their misguided beliefs, the
Jeedai
might actually be deserving of admiration. There may yet be a way to incorporate their doctrines into our religion. We must be careful not to repeat past mistakes. Perhaps we need to look for ways to conquer the hearts and minds of the species that dominate here.” He looked at Nom Anor. “Have the
Jeedai
never been defeated, Prefect?”
As Nom Anor recounted what he knew of the Jedi Purge,he considered what killing Shimrra might have meant for the Yuuzhan Vong. By assassinating Emperor Palpatine, the Rebel Alliance had unleashed decades of turmoil with local warlords, and incessant battles with hostile species …
“Tell me of the young
Jeedai
who learned the True Way, only to betray it,” Shimrra said.
“Jacen Solo.”
Shimrra knew the name. “The same who lured Tsavong Lah to his death … I have been blaming the shapers for not being able to supervise the World Brain, but I begin to suspect that this
Jeedai
is somehow responsible. When I interact with the Brain, I sense its reluctance, its miseducation. I have had to instruct the Brain, as one would a disobedient child—a child of warriors who has been mistakenly raised in the crèche of the priests.”
Shimrra rolled the lightsaber between his hands. “And the Force. I’ve heard it described by heretics as the lingering exhalation of Yun-Yuuzhan.”
Nom Anor’s words to his followers returned to haunt him.
“I would not grant it such importance, August Lord. The Force is merely a power the Jedi have learned to draw from, over twenty or more generations. But not the Jedi alone. A group called the Sith also made use of the power, and were perhaps responsible for the Purge that occurred even while we—you—were finalizing our invasion plans.”
Shimrra folded his arms across his chest. “High Priest Jakan has made mention of these Sith. Are they in hiding?”
Nom Anor shook his head. “Sadly, their flame has gone out of this galaxy, Dread Lord. The heretics claim that in the Jedi are combined all aspects of the gods. But in fact the Jedi are not flawless, nor are they beyond being outwitted and defeated. They have been captured, killed, almost turned to our own purposes.”
“As you yourself demonstrated at Zonama Sekot.”
“I must tread carefully,” Shimrra repeated, almost to himself. “When faith is under assault and the social order is cracking apart, the weak do not want explanations; they want reassurance and someone to blame.” He laughed quietly. “Ah, but I’m telling you what you already know. Look what wonders this worked with the Shamed Ones who have turned to heresy on Yuuzhan’tar and our other worlds. Do they want explanations? No! They cry out for my blood.”
Despite his best efforts, Nom Anor began to quiver.
“I see that my remarks frighten you, Prefect. Perhaps you think they smack of heresy, such as the Prophet preaches to his blind following. Would you lump me in with our own Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, or Shedao Shai and his sad devotion to the Embrace of Pain?”
“I know little of those things, Dread Lord.”
“Naturally.”
Nom Anor didn’t like the sound of it. Executions came easily to Shimrra, who was easily displeased. He had had shaper Ch’Gang Hool killed because of Hool’s seeming failure to govern the World Brain and prevent the itching plague. He had also executed Commander Ekh’m Val, who had discovered—or rather rediscovered—Zonama Sekot. Nom Anor himself had been targeted for execution because of his gullibility regarding Ebaq 9.
In the days since, his dreams of power and glory had been fulfilled, but what if Shimrra should decide to safeguard the secret of Zonama Sekot by having Nom Anor killed—just as Nom Anor had killed Nen Yim and the priest Harrar to safeguard
his
secret?
Shimrra was contemplating the lightsaber.
“A curious weapon, is it not? It requires the wielder to close with an enemy in personal combat. Were it not for their misguided beliefs, the
Jeedai
might actually be deserving of admiration. There may yet be a way to incorporate their doctrines into our religion. We must be careful not to repeat past mistakes. Perhaps we need to look for ways to conquer the hearts and minds of the species that dominate here.” He looked at Nom Anor. “Have the
Jeedai
never been defeated, Prefect?”
As Nom Anor recounted what he knew of the Jedi Purge,he considered what killing Shimrra might have meant for the Yuuzhan Vong. By assassinating Emperor Palpatine, the Rebel Alliance had unleashed decades of turmoil with local warlords, and incessant battles with hostile species …
“Tell me of the young
Jeedai
who learned the True Way, only to betray it,” Shimrra said.
“Jacen Solo.”
Shimrra knew the name. “The same who lured Tsavong Lah to his death … I have been blaming the shapers for not being able to supervise the World Brain, but I begin to suspect that this
Jeedai
is somehow responsible. When I interact with the Brain, I sense its reluctance, its miseducation. I have had to instruct the Brain, as one would a disobedient child—a child of warriors who has been mistakenly raised in the crèche of the priests.”
Shimrra rolled the lightsaber between his hands. “And the Force. I’ve heard it described by heretics as the lingering exhalation of Yun-Yuuzhan.”
Nom Anor’s words to his followers returned to haunt him.
“I would not grant it such importance, August Lord. The Force is merely a power the Jedi have learned to draw from, over twenty or more generations. But not the Jedi alone. A group called the Sith also made use of the power, and were perhaps responsible for the Purge that occurred even while we—you—were finalizing our invasion plans.”
Shimrra folded his arms across his chest. “High Priest Jakan has made mention of these Sith. Are they in hiding?”
Nom Anor shook his head. “Sadly, their flame has gone out of this galaxy, Dread Lord. The heretics claim that in the Jedi are combined all aspects of the gods. But in fact the Jedi are not flawless, nor are they beyond being outwitted and defeated. They have been captured, killed, almost turned to our own purposes.”
“As you yourself demonstrated at Zonama Sekot.”
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