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“But there were no indications of life pods—”

“Exactly, there were none.” The Yuuzhan Vong leader rubbed his hands together. “Now we know the escape ship was hidden in the downed one, the bio-trace material merely bait. It was an elaborate ruse.”

“But why?”

“Lian, how can you be so stupid?” Shedao Shai opened his arms. “We are standing amid their reason. Go, now, and determine what that reason was. Find out why they destroyed this place. Those who fell here demand it of you. Do not fail them, or me.”

“As you command, Master.”

Shedao Shai turned his back on Lian and waited for the sound of his aide’s footsteps to fade to nothingness before he turned around again to regard his silent, golden shadow. “And what do you make of this destruction, Elegos?”

The Caamasi shrugged with his full body. “This was a garden. It had no military value. They were pursued here, made a stand. Collateral damage.”

The Yuuzhan Vong let a little chuckle roll from his throat. “Do you think me fooled so easily?”

“Do you think I seek to fool you?” Elegos’s dark eyes remained wide open and innocent. “If Deign Lian cannot figure out why this place was burned despite the time he has now spent here, how am I to know with only an hour’s inspection?”

Shedao Shai began to walk deeper into the scorched scar, then waved his right hand to indicate Elegos should accompany him. When the alien caught up, he glanced at him. “How is it you abide their company, Elegos? You are thoughtful and peaceful; they are neither. I see it here. I saw it at your world of Bimmiel. How do you stand being with such dishonorable creatures?”

Elegos frowned. “What dishonor? The New Republic risked much to recover a force sent here. There is much honor in that.”

“Yes, perhaps there is, but it pales in comparison to the other things.” Shedao Shai forced his hands open and spread them. “As you said, this place has no military value, but they destroyed it. Why? And this mission of which you speak. They took dead bodies and used them as refuse to plant on a ship.”

“Even you believe the body is a vessel, Commander Shai; this I have learned from you.”

Shedao Shai turned and stabbed a finger at Elegos. “Yes, but a sacred vessel. One to be honored and cherished. We have ways, rituals, that show respect for all a fallen ancestor means. I have shared with you the results of such rituals. Here—”

The Yuuzhan Vong leader found his hand and finger quivering as rage coursed through him. He thought for a second to hide it, but instead resisted that impulse. “Here bodies were burned where they lay. Limbs were not straightened. Comrades were not placed together. They were treated as if they were rubbish, and not only our bodies. This I could understand, after a fashion, but their own?”

“The treatment of dead Yuuzhan Vong bodies you can ascribe to ignorance.” Elegos squatted near a carbonized skeleton. “Of their own people, perhaps haste. We, too, honor our dead, when possible. With your forces gathering, that clearly was not possible.”

“It could be as you suggest. I have learned much from you, but now I need to learn one more thing.”

Elegos glanced up, the sun flashing white from his golden fur. “I do not think there is more I can tell you, Commander Shai.”

“Oh, there is.” The Yuuzhan Vong pressed his two fists together. “At the mention of a jeedai called Silverblade you started, almost imperceptibly. When I mentioned Bimmiel, you again gave a sign of recognizing something. I shall assume you know this jeedai, Silverblade.”

“I have never denied knowing Jedi.”

“But Silverblade you know very well.”

The Caamasi nodded and slowly stood. “His name is Corran Horn.”

“Ko-run Horn.” Shedao Shai let the words roll around in his mouth. He linked the sound of them to the taste of the jeedai’s blood from Bimmiel. “You didn’t tell me he was the one who killed my kin at Bimmiel.”

“You never asked.”

“If you are willing to be that coy, Elegos, you not only know him, but you care for him.