A/N: With a little fudging the Way of the Dark and the Aether could be the same thing. Though in later work I will show that the Aether can/does create things, where the Force isn't dominant, but this would be like death trying to create life. The Aether's ultimate desire, if it were to ever destroy the Force, is to create hordes of demons that torment, and destroy each other.

Harrar and E'thinaa finally get last names!

Zonama Sekot: La'okio

Former Yuuzhan Vong priest Harrar Yohl had grayish purple skin, with his face and three-fingered hands covered in swirling black tattoos. His black hair was gathered into a topknot at the back of his cranium. Testifying to ritual mutilations performed over a century ago were Harrar's lack of a nose and lips, and the stumps of four amputated fingers.

He sat beside the human scientist, Danni Quee, on a gently curved bench grown out of a pale tan, nearly white, fungus. The bench sat upon a pair of sturdy stems, for it was actually two mushrooms which had grown together. Thick green moss covered the seat as a cushion.

Danni's wide eyes, and parted lips echoed the shock Harrar still felt. After a long moment she blinked her green eyes. "So Yun Yuuzhan is real, then?"

"Yes," Harrar said softly. "And he's a devil." He took a long sip of his earthy mushroom tea. Soft buzzing caught his ears, and he glanced to his right to see several furry brown buffalo bees among the flowers of an orange-berry bush. Watching the cute insects go about their business pollinating usually eased his mind, but not today. "I can still hear that poor Leviathan screaming."

Danni frowned, and pushed a long strand of blond hair from her face. "If Yun Yuuzhan is such a monster, why would people think he's a god, and the greatest of them at that?"

"I can only speculate," Harrar admitted, with a sigh. "The Yuuzhan Vong who crewed the Leviathans had to be the main reason my people left our ancestral galaxy. Their leadership must have feared that Yun Yuuzhan and his followers would find them. That would have been a massacre, unless Yun Yuuzhan found people who worshiped him."

Dannin nodded. "That makes sense, but what about the other gods? Maybe they were devils like Yun Yuuzhan?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe those other gods were simply invented to give us a greater sense of purpose and unity during our long journey through the void than just a single god would. But Zonama Sekot obliterated my faith in the gods. My people's belief in Yun Yammka is part of the reason we became so violent. Our belief in a god of war was used as a justification for our brutality. We were led so far astray, in many ways, as though by a trickster."

"Yun Harla," Danni said.

Harrar nodded. "The rest of the gods fell shortly after that, except for Yun Yuuzhan. I wanted desperately to hold on to something of my old beliefs. But now... I can no longer lie to myself. My people are not his children; we're merely... Vong. Before Zonama Sekot showed me the truth, I'd have considered all I've told you blasphemy. And punishable by a dishonorable death."

"I can't imagine having my beliefs change so much," Danni said.

"It has been difficult, but it was necessary. The truth has set me free."

"All of those gods have 'Yun' in their name," Danni commented. "What if 'Yun' was some sort of rank? Like 'Admiral'."

"An interesting theory. It does make quite a bit of sense."

Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium: Fiir'woor'mungr: orbiting Lwhekk

To those around him, E'thinaa Fiur was a perfectly normal blue-scaled Ssi-Ruu. He was greater than normal. E'thinaa had become a hero to the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium. Working closely alongside their Shreeftut he'd helped the Ssi-Ruuk survive years of turmoil, both within and without, elevating himself to the rank of Admiral. The Imperium had quietly made a resurgence, regaining territories lost, and acquiring territories they'd never had prior.

Oh, how horrified the Ssi-Ruuk would be to learn the truth of this hero of theirs. E'thinaa Fiur was a Yuuzhan Vong operative inside a specially shaped ooglith cloaker. Who would expect something so preposterous, so laughable? For almost forty years now, this creature had been his constant, and all-too-close, companion. It had been a very unpleasant and degrading business at first, especially when it came to various biological functions, and enduring such tight confines. After spending two thirds of his life in this manner, he'd grown accustomed it, to the point where it seemed a natural part of him.

But one thing to which E'thinaa would never grow accustomed, and Yun Yuuzhan smite him if did, were the saurian infidels and their machines, those dead yet animate monstrosities. And this was, apparently, not heinous enough for the Ssi-Ruuk. They relied on the sorcery of entechment to transfer souls to their machines to power them. To do this even to an infidel might very well have been an unforgivable sin.

E'thinaa's wallowing was soon interrupted by a gentle touch upon his mind. The mental call of a creature that had died over thirty years ago on Helska IV. How in the name of Yuuzhan'tar could this be? Yes, this yammosk had been shaped to be more robust than the typical specimen, but to survive the destruction of a planet? It obviously had...

Soft vibrations against his chest interrupted his thoughts. Asleep for so long, the villip implanted within his ooglith cloaker had come back to life. Fear trounced upon him as an intense darkness brushed against his mind. "Do not afraid, E'thinaa Fiur, my son," spoke a soothing, compassionate voice into his mind, and into his soul. "I am Yun Yuuzhan. I have come, in the flesh, to this Promised Galaxy with my divine army. I shall reward the faithful, and punish the infidels."

Fear surrendered to an incredible sense of peace. Hope long quenched reignited within E'thinaa's soul. "I've been awaiting your arrival, my Lord."

"And I am now here, my child."

"If you wish it, I could use my resources to create a distraction to draw the infidels' eyes away from you."

"Thank you, my servant. That would be a great help. Perhaps you could tell me about yourself and this galaxy."

Suschnost Gryzt'ador

"His name is E'thinaa Fiur," Yun Yuuzhan told Mol Ech, as they walked through a slightly curved corridor toward a lift pod. "He belongs to an advance force named the Praetorite Yuuzhan Vong. They came to prepare the way for the rest of the lesser Vong. The Praetorites are religious fanatics who have a prophecy that I would one day come to the Promised Galaxy, in the flesh, and set things right."

Mol Ech gave an amused laugh. "That's almost too convenient."

"The Praetorites created our yammosk to be more resilient and powerful than the typical specimen," Yun Yuuzhan went on. "The higher ranking Praetorites, including E'thinaa, have some of this yammosk's brain tissue implanted within their brains to facilitate long range telepathy. I assumed something of the sort when I was able to reach him through the yammosk. The Praetorites had hoped to break into their own nation once the lesser Vong had conquered this galaxy."

Mol Ech raised a crab eye. "From what little I've seen, the lesser Vong's mission has been an utter failure."

"E'thinaa told me as much," Yun Yuuzhan agreed, with a touch of disgust. "The lesser Vong almost never retreated, even when it meant losing entire fleets. Which makes our task all the more difficult."

"But we do have the might of the Great Punisher," Mol Ech reminded him.

"And competence," Yun Yuuzhan added. "E'thinaa has directed me to a nearby world named Dubrillion, and has given our yammosk the coordinates and relevant hyperspace lanes. There is a defensive fleet there that we must dispatch; E'thinaa has assured me that the defenders shall be unable to contact the rest of the galaxy. He has also heard rumors of a world named Zonama Sekot; Sekot must have settled on a planet named Zonama. It has a hyperdrive, which shall complicate matters..."

Mol Ech shrugged. "The Magor Missabib should be able to handle that."

"Yes, and once Sekot is sanctified, it shall become a major asset." Yun Yuuzhan shook his head as they came to the lift pod and Mol Ech toggled the call nodule. "It was so easy to sway E'thinaa. He felt my evil, but he pushed his own warning away. He wants so desperately to believe I am who I say I am. He lives among a saurian species named the Ssi-Ruuk, disguised as one of them. They forcibly transfer souls into their machines to power them. He is in emotional pain living among such infidels. E'thinaa needs someone to talk to, and we need what he knows."

"The Great Punisher has blessed us."

"After eternally damning our souls," Yun Yuuzhan grumbled. "I must go to the yammosk to hopefully find Sekot and murder the tsup. You shall have the bridge."

A/N: Fiir'woor'mungr is supposed to sound like 'Fear Warmonger'. The Praetorite Vong appeared in the novel, Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime. But shouldn't they be called the Praetorite Yuuzhan Vong? I thought these folks considered it sacrilege or blasphemy to leave out 'Yuuzhan', as it would imply they weren't Yun Yuuzhan's children. Perhaps this information hadn't been decided at first.

A tsup is one who serves their master in an unseemly way. Yun Yuuzhan hates the Force, and it's servant Sekot, considering Sekot's service to the Force unseemly.