Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 08_ Edge of Victory 01_ Conquest - J. Gregory Keyes [88]
Maybe this was even the result of a whole people turning entirely to the dark side. Maybe the Force simply rejected them, or they it.
That didn’t make them all evil, any more than everyone who served the Empire was evil. But it made them worth opposing. Without anger or hatred, yes. But they had to be stopped, and Anakin Solo would never turn his eyes from that.
With a sudden surge of confidence, he reached for the parts of his lightsaber in the Force and then pressed deeper.
So he had to work indirectly with the Yuuzhan Vong and their things. Fine. But behind the seeming disunity, there must be unity.
And in a flash of epiphany he had it. The link between the rest of his lightsaber and the lambent was Anakin Solo. It was in him the changes had to happen.
Power surged and crackled, and the cavern echoed with a snap-hiss, and somewhere Vua Rapuung snarled.
Anakin opened his eyes to the purple glow of his lightsaber and felt a grin slash his face in half.
“I am Jedi again,” he said quietly.
Perhaps a new kind of Jedi altogether.
“Two cycles have come and gone,” Vua Rapuung growled, a few moments later. His features were hollow in the violet glow. “Your abominable weapon works, it seems. Are we done with skulking? May we at last embrace our foes?”
“You embrace them,” Anakin said. “I’m going to knock them down. Your shapers want Jedi? One is coming to them.”
PART THREE
CONQUEST
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mezhan Kwaad curled her headdress in recognition at Nen Yim as she entered the laboratory.
“Detail your progress, Adept,” the master said. Her tone was curt and her tendrils suggested irritation.
“We made good progress in your absence, Master,” Nen Yim said cautiously. “I think with only minor genetic adjustments, the memory implants will be permanent. She resists them less than she did when last you were here.”
“Yes,” Mezhan Kwaad replied, anger twitching her tendrils. “Valuable days, missed.” She turned to Nen Yim. “But at least you were here, my adept, and competent to carry on.”
Nen Yim watched Mezhan Kwaad cross to the vivarium. The Jeedai still had a blank look most of the time, but now and then Nen Yim thought she saw something working behind those alien green eyes. Something more Yuuzhan Vong than human.
“Can you tell me your name?” Mezhan Kwaad asked the Jeedai.
Only a slight hesitation, this time. “Riina,” the Jeedai said. “My name is Riina.”
“Very good, Riina. Did Nen Yim explain what has been done to you?”
“A little.”
“Tell me what you remember.”
“The infidels captured me as a child, at the rim of their galaxy. They made me look like one of them and gave me false memories with their Jeedai powers.”
“This seems right to you?”
“Not always. Sometimes I think I am—” She gasped and clenched her hands. “—someone else.”
“The infidel conditioning was excellent. Before we rescued you, they tried to wipe your mind clean. There was much damage.”
“I feel that,” the Jeedai answered.
“There is something I need to know,” Mezhan Kwaad replied. “You were born with certain powers. You were taught lies about these powers, but we are attending to that. What I fear, Riina, is that your injuries may have crippled those powers.”
“I cannot even think of them,” the Jeedai said. Small droplets of water formed in the corners of her eyes and ran down her face.
“I’m going to help you with that,” the master said. She gestured to make the vivarium opaque to sound and spoke to Nen Yim. “Quiet the provoker spineray.”
Nen Yim started. “Master, that might not be wise. She still has moments when she asserts her real identity. We have closed most of those neural paths, but if we remove the promise of pain—”
“The new memories are in place for now, yes? They seem to be working quite well. They will keep her in check. This will not take long.”
“This will confuse