While Anakin keeps an eye on those that are inspecting his crash site, he learns the rescue ship is in bad shape and it will take quite a while before any rescue will reach them.  Anakin has an intense vision of Tahiri as a Yuuzhan Vong Warrior with Dark Side energy swirling around her.  He is woken by Qorl, an older man who knew Jacen and Jaina, and notices that Vong ships have entered the airspace.  Anakin takes Qorl back to the group and tells them to leave the planet immediately and he’ll continue his search for Tahiri.

Luke is meeting with Fey’lya who refuses to help the Jedi for fear of breaking the truce with the Yuuzhan Vong.  Luke takes the bad news back to the Jedi and suggests that they bring in a Star Destroyer to help even the odds on Yavin.  Jaina will lead a group to contact Booster Terrik to help them.  Shada D’ukal says she’ll be returning to Yavin no matter what.

Anakin searches for Tahiri in a pieced together speeder, but he is being tailed by another ship.  Something grabs the speeder in mid air ejecting him from the ship and he becomes intertwined with tentacles.  He Force throws his lightsaber into it and destroys it.  He has been badly beaten, and remains hidden.  Unfortunately his lightsaber was damaged in the attack and is not functioning, and his speeder was also rendered useless.

While overlooking the planet Nen Yim, a Yuuzhan Vong shaper, speaks with a Master shaper named Mezhan Kwaad.  Nen Yim is going to be receiving her first shaper hand.  Her hand is placed into a liquid and the creatures in it begin to bite through her wrist and remove her entire hand.  Although she feels shame at feeling discomfort, Kwaad tells her that everyone feels that when receiving their first hand.  After passing out, she awakes with her new shaper hand intact.

After searching for three days, Anakin encounters an unarmed Yuuzhan Vong who is horribly disfigured (even for them) being taken away by two Vong warriors. The unarmed Vong kills his captors.  The Vong, Vua Rapuung, sees Anakin and tells him that he will assist Anakin in finding Tahiri.

Master Shaper Yal Phaath greets Yim and Kwaad as they watch over Tahiri.  Apparently they have just discovered a new area of the nervous system.  Phaath is unimpressed and says they should not be discovering in such a way and should simply petition the Supreme Commander to learn the answers they seek.  Kwaad has a history of committing heresy according to Yuuzhan Vong beliefs.

Anakin and Vua are hiding Vua’s cave.  Vua scoffs at Anakin’s quest to save Tahiri, but says he’ll help anyway.  Vua tells him that she will be shaped into the image of the Vong gods, causing Anakin to recall his nightmare.  As they head out, Anakin sees that the Jedi Temple has been completely destroyed and has been replaced by Vong structures.  Without going into detail, Vua tells him that he is displeased with the state of his body, and that is the reason he seeks revenge.  As they reach the river, a boat with an unscarred Vong aboard approaches and Vua kills him and takes over the boat.  The plan is to use Anakin as a decoy to be allowed inside the Vong camp.

Yim tells Kwaad that she has finished mapping Tahiri’s nervous system.  They agree to question the protocols of the gods and continue the experiment.  Kwaad thanks the gods that they have sent Yim to her.  Much to her own dismay, Tahiri is now able to speak in the Vong language.  They tell her that she will be stripped of her false memories and be changed into a Vong.

Vua tells Anakin he must be disguised as a slave in order to walk freely inside.  He tells Anakin that when they find Tahiri he will also take out his revenge on Kwaad.  He implants a coral growth on Anakin.  It doesn’t fully implant and Vua tells him to respond as though it did.  They hide his broken lightsaber in a pool, and enter a shanty town filled with several other slaves and Shamed Ones..  After an encounter with a warrior, Anakin learns that Vua is posing as Shamed One.  A Shamed One is frowned upon by the gods, and their bodies reject the scarring making them useless.  Apparently Vua was in love with a shaper named Mezhan Kwaad.  When he broke it off, the shaper made him appear shamed.  Vua tells Anakin they will go to the Executor and they will not see each other for several days.  Anakin should find Tahiri and get as close as he can to her.

Anakin spends several days working as a slave.  Suddenly he is taken with great pain and he realizes the pain he feels is Tahiri’s as she is scarred.  He is taken into a field with telepathic blossoms that he is forced to harvest in a rather uncomfortable way.  Inside each blossom is a strange gem like object that can be controlled as a light source simply using one's mind.  In the evening, Anakin goes back to the field alone.  He takes a gem and goes back to the pool to recover his lightsaber.  As he returnes, he run into Vua!  Anakin tells him he needs some time to repair his lightsaber and learns from Vua that when the Temple was destroyed they did not touch the caverns below it.

Yim gains a new assistant from Kwaad named Tsun since she will not be able to attend.  Through information, Yim realizes that Tsun is also a heretic and is to be trusted.  Yim tells Tsun that they are altering her memories using a new technique.  Tahiri now believes her name is Riina Kwaad.