New Jedi Order 13: Traitor
	Matthew Stover
	2002
	28 Years After The Battle of Yavin
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SPOILER ALERT: This Will Spoil The Plot of the Book!

There is an area outside the known galaxy called hyperspace and within it is a single ship.   Inside this ship, Jacen Solo is alive and he awakens and finds himself trapped within the Yuuzhan Vong device known as the embrace of pain.  He is woken by his betrayer, the creature known as Vergere.  She tells him that he is already dead and that his family mourns his passing.  He opens himself to the Force and realizes that he can sense Vergere and she is alive within the Force, but with a flick of her wrist he blacks out.  When Jacen opens his eyes, he realizes that something has changed and Vergere tells him that she is taken the Force away from him. 

Vergere continues to talk every time Jacen awakes, but none of it makes sense and all of his questions are met with additional questions.  Eventually he awakes and finds himself on the floor.  He asks her why the Vong are doing this to them, and she replies that perhaps they are trying to teach him something.  She taunts him that he is not a full Jedi.  She reminds him that everything she tells him is a lie and leaves the room as the embrace of pain again blanks Jacen into white.

Jacen begins to think about what pain is.  Pain can teach you things as Master Luke told him.  Pain can strengthen you and can be a bridge to other places.  He realizes that pain can be different things depending on who you are.  He wonders who exactly he is.  For weeks, Jacen has been a slave to the pain but now he begins to conquer it.

Nom Anor gives an update to Tsavong Lah the Jacen Solo project.  He tells him that Jacen has been able to thrive upon the pain that has been inflicted upon him and will eventually turn to the true way, but Tsavong Lah does not understand the significance.  Anor tells him that the Solo family, which has dominated the New Republic for nearly a quarter-century, plays a vital significance to the psyche of its inhabitants. He adds that if Luke Skywalker, Jacen's uncle, had not destroyed the Empire the Vong would never have been as successful.  If Jacen now turns to the Vong side, the effect on the New Republic will be devastating.  Jacen will capture Jaina and bring her to the sacrifice himself and kill her.

Finally free of the embrace of pain, Jacen is taken by Vergere through the ship.  It is unlike anything he's ever seen, and she tells him it is a seed ship that will create a new Yuuzhan Vong world.  A new planet will be formed and within only a few months it will be a completely and fully functional new home world.  Finally they enter a room that is vast in size and Jacen sees what thinks are herds of animals, but turn out to be groups of humans, Bothans, and other slaves all of whom shout and sob in miserable pain.  Vong shapers are testing the grass, water and trees that surround this amazing world.  They come across a pond like area filled with huge block containers that is heavily guarded by warriors.  Living inside these blocks are dhuryams, one of which will become the World Brain of the new Yuuzhan Vong home world.  Dhuryams are the infinitely more powerful versions of the yammosks that control the Yuuzhan Vong battles.  They control planets telepathically and this nursery is their playground to perfect their skills.  Jacen tells her his has nothing learn, but she says she has nothing to teach and stabs him the chest!

After living in the nursery for several weeks (or months as Jacen is unsure) he sees Vergere coming towards him and tells him that she implanted him with a slave seed that was once part of one of the dhuryams.  The seed allows the dhuryam to control him simply by inflicting pain in the appropriate areas.  She pokes at his chest wound, but he is no longer affected by the pain.  She then cries onto a cloth and uses the moisture to miraculously heal Jacen's wound!  Jacen is stunned by this and she tells him that her species can have their tears become anything they want and since she can use the Force her ability is even more potent.  He begs Vergere to use her tears to heal some of the other slaves, but she refuses.  She explains that the beings there are like flowers and weeds.  Some have use while others do not.