Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 20_ The Final Prophecy - J. Gregory Keyes [35]
“Final member of the party?” Corran made it sound like, You want me to kiss a gundark?
“Yes. A shaper who holds the secret to our redemption.”
“I thought you—”
“I am the Prophet. I speak the truth and foretell what is to come. I am not myself the key to redemption—I merely see it.”
Corran glanced at Tahiri. “That’s interesting,” he said, “but our mission, as I understood it, was to come here and get you and take you to Zonama Sekot. Now you want us to change the mission to include someone else. In my experience, changes in the mission can lead to unpleasant results.”
“I am sorry,” the Prophet said. “But as you said, your mission has changed already—now we must have a ship. As to the shaper—I could not speak of her on the qahsa. She is placed very close to Shimrra—it is how she discovered Zonama Sekot in the first place.”
Corran sighed. “Explain.”
“A commander named Ekh’m Val went to Zonama Sekot,” Yu’shaa said. “He fought there and was defeated. But he returned with something of the planet, which this shaper has studied. She discovered a certain inexplicable kinship between the biology of Sekot and our own biotechnology.”
“Again, interesting, but—”
“We are from another galaxy, Jedi Horn. We crossed the starless night for age upon age. Our legends go deep, and yet nowhere is such a thing hinted at, at least not in anything I ever heard. And yet here, in this time of darkness, two things are given us. To me, a vision of Zonama Sekot as a sign of our redemption. To the shaper, the revelation that we have some prior relationship to this planet—a relationship that Shimrra fears. I do not know what these things mean, but they can hardly be coincidence. But like me, this shaper must see the world of salvation with her own eyes, to know the truth—to know exactly what it all means.”
“And how do you know she isn’t betraying you?” Corran asked. “You say she’s part of Shimrra’s inner circle? I’m sure he would like to get his hands on you at least as much as on the two of us.”
“No doubt. But I believe her. Ekh’m Val was murdered upon his return from Zonama Sekot, along with all his surviving warriors. Shimrra fears even the rumor of this planet. The shaper is already as good as dead, merely for knowing what she knows. Shimrra would never allow her to leave his compound, much less travel freely to the very planet he fears.”
“So you’re saying we have to break her out of Shimrra’s compound?” Tahiri blurted, incredulous.
“Yes. I’m afraid it’s the only way.”
“Yu’shaa,” Tahiri said, “why are you wearing a masquer?”
She felt Corran’s reaction in the Force—a sudden heightening of suspicion. But he didn’t say anything, and she was watching the Prophet for his reaction.
But the Prophet showed no surprise, nor should he have—any Yuuzhan Vong would see the masquer for what it was: an organism that presented a false face to the world. “You know our ways,” he said. “I wear this masquer for my people. I have sworn not to remove it until our redemption has come. For you, I might take it off, but I have adhered it with dhur qirit. The removal process is very lengthy.”
So it was basically sutured to his face. That made sense, sort of—several Yuuzhan Vong sects in the past had habitually worn masquers as a matter of daily ritual. They had, in fact, originally been developed for that rather than as a means of disguise.
But here, in this context, Tahiri didn’t like it.
Corran obviously didn’t, either. “No offense, Yu’shaa,” he said, “but Tahiri and I need a moment to discuss this alone.”
“Of course.”
They walked a comfortable distance.
“How does this smell to you?” Corran asked.
“I don’t really like it,” Tahiri said. “But part of that might be a reflexive dislike of Shamed Ones.”
“You think that affects your read of the situation?”
“I hope not. I’m trying to fight it. But there’s something about him I don’t like, that’s for sure.”