Upon sensing Bothans coming, Jacen figured that they may have life-sign readers that would find him and Nom Anor. So he used a Force-technique to reach out to the approaching True Victory Party team's L-S readers and scrambled them so that the readers came back with a negative for any life in the apartment that he and the Yuuzhan Vong were hiding out in.
The TVP team passed by in a close-topped landspeeder with tinted windows, which Jacen saw via peering out the window from behind the wall next to it. He cast a Fallanassi illusion to make it look like he wasn't there to the naked eye, in case any of the Bothans in the vehicle saw him.
Jacen then ducked back next to the window and looked back at Nom Anor, who was now huddled to the wall next to the door that, if it had been forced open, he could catch the attackers who came through by surprise. The Yuuzhan Vong mouthed, Are we clear yet?
Jacen nodded.
Nom Anor then let out a breath of relief and stood back up to approach Jacen. "How much longer is it going to take you before you can teleport us to the Jedi Temple?" the alien asked impatiently.
"Less than four hours now," Jacen said. He took another look around and said, "I don't think this place has anything that we can watch a holofilm on; if there any leftover holofilms here, that is." He looked back at Nom Anor. "You have any ideas to pass the time?"
"I do not know," Nom Anor replied. "Do you?"
"No," Jacen answered dully.
Nom Anor sighed and turned to approach the couch of the apartment room that they took. He fell against it and adopted a pose of impatience by placing an elbow on his knee and his face in his palm, as if that was the quickest way to pass the time.
Jacen then joined the Yuuzhan Vong by sitting down next to him and sighed. He then looked at the eye-patched alien and asked, "You wanna tell me a little bit about yourself?"
"What?" Nom Anor asked incredulously.
Jacen shrugged. "I only know you from our experiences in the war. I know nothing about your past before it. You wanna tell me about it, just to pass the time?"
Nom Anor sighed. "Fine. I suppose I can.
"I grew up in Domain Anor, which, as you may have gathered, is the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a family. We were a domain that was as well off as we could be in the midst of a slum civilization that was trying to find a new home; a new home that we would gain through violence and barbarism, of course. I had some siblings and cousins, but I don't remember all of them quite so fondly, let us just say. And I was glad that I never saw any of them again, except for Phaa, who I contacted just before I tried to kill Zonama Sekot before the recent war ended. I never knew what happened to Phaa after that, but I presume that Shimrra - or Onimi, as it were - had him executed to keep word of the living planet a secret from the Yuuzhan Vong as much as possible.
"But anyway, as a child," Nom Anor continued, "I intermingled frequently with children who were of both higher and lower statuses, though I associated with those who were more on the bottom of the food chain; they were much easier to, as you would say it, hang around with than children of wealthier families. Granted, I rarely ever encountered children of Shamed castes or domains, and that was just because I had encountered them on accident and did everything I could to avoid them at all costs. I would not want to be Shamed by the gods, after all."
"And look where your life went when it came to Shamed Ones, huh?" Jacen remarked.
Nom Anor gave a wry smile in spite himself. "Indeed. Of course, my interactions with those of lower castes and domains allowed me to see some cruel actions, and in some cases, I had to enact some of those actions, whether it was to seek revenge for my self-esteem, or simply for my survival. That was when I learned that one of the key tools in that, aside from violence and murder - both cold-blooded and heat-of-the-moment alike - was deception. Lies and trickery became an integral part to how I lived with other Yuuzhan Vong children, and it became something that became all the more integral to me as I grew up."
"I suppose you thought that Yun-Harla was smiling on you," Jacen said.
"Oh, yes, I did. I became one of her devoted followers; not as fanatical as some of my colleagues, but I believed in her as much as the other gods, even if I had more faith in her than even Yun-Yuuzhan, never mind any of the other lesser gods. I guess that is why I became an Intendant; Yun-Harla smiled on the likes of Intendants."
"So when did you start losing faith in Yun-Harla and the other gods?" Jacen asked.
"During the war, actually," Nom Anor answered. "I had my doubts before the war started. But as it progressed, I started losing faith almost easily, especially with the losses that we began sustaining after we took Coruscant. This loss of faith culminated, though, after I learned that the eighth cortex of the Shaper Qahsa - the level of connectedness that one could have with the gods - was completely false, and that Shimrra was a madman."
"Then, of course, Ebaq Nine happened, and you fled underground to take control of the Shamed Ones as Yu'shaa the Prophet, I presume," Jacen said.
"That's right," Nom Anor said. "Ironic; I had lost all faith in the religion that I had served most of my life under, and I had started to spread the word of a heresy that was equally as false; and all for my own benefit, just so I could replace Shimrra on the throne. And it was in spreading propaganda about the Jedi no less."
"I guess you don't take comfort in knowing that the heresy wasn't totally in vain," Jacen said. "That it helped aid the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi in taking down Onimi and Shimrra."
"What do you think?" Nom Anor replied sarcastically.
Jacen cocked his head in acknowledgement of the Yuuzhan Vong's point.
"I hope you don't pepper me with your life story, Solo," Nom Anor said. "I had been infiltrating your galaxy for decades leading up to the invasion. So I kept up with the general gossip behind the lives of the Solo family, since they were heroes in the Rebellion, after all."
"Then what else have we got to talk about?" Jacen asked.
"Exactly," Nom Anor said.
An awkward silence passed between them as they blankly stared at the wall ahead of them for a few moments before Jacen came up with another question.
"Can you tell me what Onimi was like?"
"Well, you met him," Nom Anor pointed out. "And you killed him. I think you have a good impression of what he was like."
"Yes, but I have a feeling - a gut instinct, not something borne from the Force - that tells me that the Onimi I knew for a few minutes wasn't the Onimi you spent a lot more time around," Jacen said.
"Well, then," Nom Anor said, "if I were to tell you what he was like in my experiences with him and Shimrra alone, I'd say that Onimi was a nuisance. That ugly bastard liked to prance around Shimrra's court giving these little poems that talked about the upper caste and how they were failing Shimrra. He seemed quite amused with himself and with everyone and everything around him, as if he could do whatever he liked."
"Which, of course, was what he was doing," Jacen concluded.
"Indeed," Nom Anor said. "But I suppose that you knew him as the psychopathic madman that he really was."
"He wanted to kill everything in existence and remake the universe in his own image as a god, so, yeah," Jacen said. "He was pretty messed up."
"I wonder how he would have gone about it," Nom Anor said. "With Shimrra dead, what was he going to do? Simply go around the galaxy in his escape craft and kill everything that wasn't him? I mean, sure, he had the Force and the ability to control minds, but if you think about it, why didn't he try to do that to you? Or did he?"
"He didn't because he thought that I, along with Jaina, were the incarnations of Yun-Shuno and Yun-Harla respectively," Jacen said. "So he probably thought that we would have been too powerful to control, even if we weren't. Which means that even if he went about controlling the minds of many others, he wouldn't take over the minds of Jedi not because he was unable to, but because he wouldn't dare to."
"I see," Nom Anor said. "You know, that actually reminds me of the time when the sacrifice on Coruscant that was meant as a prelude to Nas Choka's invasion on Mon Calamari was interfered by the Shamed Ones. If you think about it, Onimi could have simply taken over the minds of the Shamed Ones attacking and have them kill themselves. And he could later write it off through Shimrra's mouth that it was a blessing by the gods who didn't want their sacrifice interrupted, which would mean that they were in favor of the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion on Dac. In fact, that could have even made me doubt my own doubts about the existence of the gods as well as bolstering the waning faiths of my people."
"In that case, then," Jacen said, "I don't think it was because Onimi was unable to control the Shamed Ones; I think he lacked the foresight and tactical knowledge to do that. He thought strictly in that what was under his control, he wanted further control over it, like the warriors who tried to defend the sacrifice, instead of focusing his power against what he couldn't control, like the attacking Shamed Ones, which was probably his undoing in the end. Had he been smarter with his abilities, he would have been an even greater force to be reckoned with in controlling his people. Could you imagine how much of a threat he could have been on his own had he decided to take control of the minds of Yuuzhan Vong and Galactic Alliance soldiers and citizens alike? He probably could've been unstoppable."
"Or the power he could have had on the Jedi," Nom Anor said.
"Oh, yeah, definitely," Jacen agreed with a nod. "Or how about taking over the minds of yammosks to increase his power over those around him?"
"That is a scary thought," Nom Anor stated with a reflective tone.
"You know, he actually got his power by fusing himself with yammosk DNA, which was how he became deformed and got his powers," Jacen explained. "Jaina told me that in the weeks after the war ended. Onimi went on this rant about his origins before I stepped in to fight him."
"Well, I suppose that makes sense, him getting mind-control abilities from a yammosk," Nom Anor said. "Then I suppose the only things that would be an actual threat to him are yammosk jammers and Zonama Sekot; and even then, neither are invincible, not even the living world itself. It still had a chance of dying by that Alpha Red-infected Yuuzhan Vong vessel, after all."
"Yeah," Jacen agreed.
"Another thing I remembered," Nom Anor said, "is that as the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar approached, Onimi lost control of Shimrra, it seemed. Shimrra started making decisions on his own that were going against Onimi's wishes, which effectively made Shimrra the actual Supreme Overlord. How could that have happened?" He wasn't asking Jacen in particular.
"Jaina told me about that, too," Jacen said. "She told me that Onimi had been 'preoccupied with defeating her,' which we both think meant that he was too preoccupied in fighting the gods instead of controlling Shimrra. I don't know how that could have been; maybe it was, as you said, when he was taking over the warriors at the sacrifice rather than the Shamed Ones, and that loss of control allowed Shimrra's broken, unstable mind to resurface, uncontrollable even to himself, never mind Onimi. Or maybe it's just that after so many decades of his mind being controlled, Shimrra must have somehow finally developed an immunity to it in the face of Onimi losing his own cool because of the war. It's my best guess at this point.
"You know, something else just occurred to me," Jacen said. "Yammosks can control the minds of all beings, right?"
"Yes," Nom Anor said. "As far as I know from the limited knowledge I had on them."
"Well, why wasn't a tactic like having yammosks give the Yuuzhan Vong's enemies, like the New Republic and Galactic Alliance, psychological torture episodes ever an option during battles?" Jacen asked.
Nom Anor looked at Jacen in shock. "If Tsavong Lah or Nas Choka or any other Yuuzhan Vong commander heard that, you would have blown their minds, Solo."
Jacen grinned.
"Oh, wait," Nom Anor said, his expression dropping. "Maybe that would have overworked the yammosks. Perhaps they'd be too divided between coordinating the Yuuzhan Vong forces and sabotaging their enemies."
"Well, keep in mind, though," Jacen said, "by the end of the war, Yuuzhan Vong pilots were trained to fly on their own, without yammosk aid, right?"
Again, Nom Anor's eyebrows were widened. "Which would leave the yammosks all but able to concentrate on overriding the minds of the Yuuzhan Vong's enemies."
Jacen's grin returned. "But anyway, assuming that Onimi's shortcomings stemmed from him not being such a good tactician, I don't know how he would have gone about killing everything in existence, although I do think that there was a good reason that I had to become one with the Force to kill him."
"You have any theories about how Onimi could have gone about killing everyone?" Nom Anor asked.
"One, which is the only one that would make sense to me, all things considered," Jacen said. "You remember how Vergere liked to concoct chemical compounds from her tears?"
"Yes."
"Well, Onimi could do the same, though they were more toxic compounds that he could excrete through sweat, saliva, blood, tears, et cetera," Jacen said. "Of course, I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility that he could have modified those compounds to be nourishing."
"Nourishing?" Nom Anor asked. "To what? Feed himself?"
"Not just himself," Jacen said, "but probably also his escape craft; he could power his dovin basals so that his ship could go anywhere without tiring itself, produce unlimited voids, or maybe not even that; he could have probably hardened his ship's already-reinforced yorik coral to be completely invulnerable to the point that only the destruction of the universe itself would have been able to destroy it."
"Destruction of the universe itself could have broke through it?" Nom Anor asked.
"Well, maybe that's just an exaggeration," Jacen said. "Probably a planet-buster like a Death Star or Sun Crusher would have gotten through to it. But even if it had sustained damage, I'd think that Onimi would have been able to send chemical compounds to heal his ship and possibly reinforce it even further. I bet that he could even create enough plasma to destroy his enemies."
"Are you really sure he could have concocted those compounds?" Nom Anor asked. "It sounds like he only knew how to create detrimental concoctions, just as Vergere made only medicinal compounds."
"Well, Vergere was only capable of producing emollients and healing compounds," Jacen said. "But in my fight with Onimi, I could sense that he could create the more complex, more lethal compounds that would have required more effort to keep them from killing himself. And if he could do that, he could certainly create nourishing and healing compounds. Vergere was like a mere adept compared to him."
"Interesting," Nom Anor said. "But if Onimi didn't have tactical intelligence, as you say, how do you know he could have been smart enough to reinforce his reinforced bunker ship?"
"I just think it might have been a possibility," Jacen said with a shrug. "Maybe he would have been placed in a desperate situation, such as being fired by a whole group of GA warships, that would have prompted him to think up of hardening his ship on the spot."
"If he had done that out of desperation," Nom Anor said, "then I wonder why he didn't just think of taking over the Shamed Ones at that sacrifice."
"Different circumstances, maybe?" Jacen asked. "You did point out that he was biologically linked, or 'wedded,' to that ship. Maybe he could have felt its pain and did everything in his power to heal it and harden it."
"In the middle of a battle?" Nom Anor asked. "I get it if it were after a confrontation, but amidst it?"
"Well, let's say he managed to kill me, you, and my family, and Aunt Mara senses my death and my family's," Jacen said. "She would probably have let the GA forces know about this and have them all try to destroy that bunker ship; you know, not so much out of vengeance, per se, but just to finally end the war. Onimi would still have Yuuzhan Vong forces defending him, thinking he's Shimrra. So whatever hits the bunker ship takes, he can heal up. And hardening it might be something he could think of in between attacks and defenses from GA and Yuuzhan Vong forces respectively."
"I don't know if the Yuuzhan Vong forces would have been so volatile in trying to defend Shimrra, surprisingly," Nom Anor said. "From what I heard, even a relative realist such as Nas Choka believed in the god-like invincibility of the Supreme Overlord; that if the Yuuzhan Vong, as a people, were to die, the Supreme Overlord would be the last to die. So while Choka may have loaned some forces to defend the bunker ship, I doubt he would have been too worried in defending Shimrra, even if it was really Onimi. And don't ask me as to why he would need a reinforced bunker if the Yuuzhan Vong believed in Shimrra's invincibility; it's one of those things that religious extremists, like most of my people, do not question."
"Well, in the face of such an attack," Jacen said, "wouldn't Choka think that by having all of his warriors defend Shimrra to the last warrior, only then would Shimrra be the last to die? Or, even if that weren't to happen, I guess Onimi could contact Choka, rearrange the villip contact so that he appeared to be Shimrra - and even influence Choka's mind in case the warmaster would have been suspicious as to whether or not this was Shimrra, like if Onimi wasn't exactly acting like the Supreme Overlord - and tell him to defend the bunker ship at all costs. It would be within Onimi's limited imagination."
"Well, that would assume that Onimi was even controlling the warriors at the botched sacrifice to begin with," Nom Anor said. "For all we know, he could have just panicked or something. Which makes me wonder all the more if Onimi could have really been a threat if that happened and he just lost control of Shimrra like that; so maybe he wouldn't have even contacted Choka to ask for defense while being harried."
"Even if the Yuuzhan Vong wouldn't have been actively defending the bunker," Jacen argued, "they still would be fighting the GA ships attacking it. I doubt they would have just sat back and watched, at any rate. And it's possible that Onimi could have gotten the idea in his head to go and take control of at least some of the Yuuzhan Vong forces in his more immediate vicinity; and who knows what could have happened from there? My guess: him managing to defeat the GA forces that justified me achieving oneness with the Force in order to defeat him."
"But here's yet another question," Nom Anor said. "What about the present yammosk jammers still in the battle? Wouldn't they have affected Onimi's powers to influence the minds of the Yuuzhan Vong there? Come to think of it, even if he had managed to think beyond controlling them, he still wouldn't be able to influence the minds of the GA forces there."
"Well, again, even if Onimi couldn't control the Yuuzhan Vong forces nearby because of whatever yammosk jammers there happen to be," Jacen said, "you still have the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong forces themselves will still fight the GA forces nevertheless. And maybe, just maybe, Onimi could have found a reprieve within the battle to have healed his ship and enhanced it to invincible standards, after piloting it away and fighting off some GA ships himself, of course; and even with all the hits he might take, he'll still have a pretty damn reinforced bunker that will spare him from a great many hits, giving him that much of an advantage. And when that occurs, after he's healed and hardened his ships and all, he could go about with destroying the interdictors that have the jammers himself, most likely by tracing their gravitic fields with his Force-abilities back to their sources."
"I thought it was impossible to sense things that were non-living through the Force, such as droids," Nom Anor pointed out.
"Yes, but something like gravitic modulation," Jacen said, "can be sensed through the Force, especially since it can be detected by starship sensors and even from simple feeling."
"You can detect a droid by eyes and the other senses, along with some non-lifesign readings," Nom Anor said. "Again, Onimi's telepathic abilities were based on yammosk DNA, and therefore, so were his Force powers, so his powers might not even work then."
"Well, they probably could have," Jacen said. "He could have lucked out and ended up in an area that wasn't yammosk-jammed, which he might have sensed just as a Jedi could detect a Yuuzhan Vong without a Force presence. Onimi probably could have boarded a ship like Choka's flagship or any other remaining Yuuzhan Vong capital vessel for refuge for healing and to communicate with other commanders, via manipulated villip making him seem like Shimrra, combined with telepathic abilities to influence those he's communicating with further, to take out the jamming interdictors. This would eventually be passed onto Choka, assuming Onimi had to board another ship that wasn't in a jamming zone, and he could have gone about his plans."
"While it may sound like a longshot and rely on a lot of variables to occur in the battle, I think that's what could have happened to justify me needing the Force to defeat Onimi. Otherwise, while it may have been a tragic end to the war to have lost the Solo family and Luke Skywalker at the end of the war, the galaxy could have still gone on after we were gone."
"And even if the Jedi Order were to fall into darkness," Nom Anor followed, "such as your aunt taking revenge, they still could have healed later, just as when your uncle revived the Jedi Order itself."
"I think so, too," Jacen said.
Nom Anor nodded, conceding Jacen's point. "Very well, I can see your point." Then, after a moment, Nom Anor asked, "Can you tell me what being one with the Force is like?"
"Why would you wanna know?" Jacen countered. "You said you hated the Force for all that it was responsible, through the actions of the Jedi, that led to your misfortune throughout the war. I still remember that before you lied to my family and said you'd rather die with Onimi than live to see the postwar galaxy."
"Even so," Nom Anor said, "I'd still be interested to know. After all, you said it yourself; it allows us to pass the time."
"Fine," Jacen said. "Well... the best I could describe it is... Have you ever done drugs, Nommy?"
"What, and become an addict unable to go on living without whatever substance that I oh so desperately need?" Nom Anor retorted. "No, I have never done it. But I am familiar enough through secondhand accounts, particularly through some of my pirate members, who have told me what it was like. They say that it feels like 'they are the galaxy' and other variations of that type of euphoric hyperbole."
"Well, while I haven't done drugs myself," Jacen said, "at least not any hard ones during my sojourn, the experience that I felt in becoming one with the Force during my battle with Onimi... it was like I became the Force itself. And I'm pretty sure I was, for a brief moment."
"I see," Nom Anor said in a mildly interested tone.
Yet another awkward moment passed between them before it was Nom Anor who asked, "So what drugs did you do on your sojourn."
"Just one type," Jacen answered. "It's called marijuana. It's grown on worlds like Dantooine and even on the Forest Moon of Endor."
"What does it do?"
"It gives you, or at least humans, this feeling of mild euphoria; you feel a little weary, a little tired, and you get quite hungry. Sometimes, you'll even eat bizarre types of food and weird food combinations. That all depends on how much you take, of course. But no matter how much I've taken, it doesn't do an iota of justice compared to what I felt when I was one with the Force."
"Any side effects to this marijuana?" Nom Anor asked.
"Not... really," Jacen answered hesitantly. "There are arguments by some scientists that it decreases your intelligence - killing brain cells faster and all - but other scientists have said that it doesn't do that, so I really don't know. I haven't felt much different between when I smoke weed - that's a nickname for marijuana, by the way - and when I'm sober. One thing most scientists do agree on is that marijuana's a lot less harmful to the brain and body than alcohol; so, if anything, my dad and his buddies from the Rebellion are doing more damage to their alcohol drinking Corellian brandy than if they just smoked a little weed."
"Hmm," Nom Anor muttered. "That doesn't sound too bad, actually. A drug that causes no real harm to the user; that sounds like it would be incredibly profitable to a mainstream market."
"I agree," Jacen said. "Of course, marijuana's effects have only been seen in species like humans, Bothans, Twi'leks, and probably a few others I can name off the top of my head. I'm not sure what it'll do to a Yuuzhan Vong, though."
Nom Anor looked at him. "You are offering me marijuana?"
Jacen nodded. "Provided that I can be sure that it won't poison you or something."
"Oh, what would you really care?" Nom Anor countered. "You don't even really want me alive; you're just protecting me because of your moral obligation to see that I'm judged in a fair trial."
"Maybe," Jacen said. "But if it doesn't kill you, it can probably help you relax."
"Relax?" Nom Anor countered. "You mean while we're being hunted down by the True Victory Party? If we're too high, we won't be alert enough to react in time to defend ourselves, or run away."
Jacen waved the argument away. "I can just create a counteragent to that or something."
"Counteragent?" Nom Anor asked. "You mean you can manipulate the molecules in your body to create compounds, too?"
Jacen nodded with a grin. "it's how I saved my uncle from the poison from Shimrra's amphistaff, as a matter of fact."
Nom Anor's eyebrows were raised in understanding. "So that's how he survived." He then looked at Jacen in incredulous curiosity. "Is there anything you can't do?"
"Maybe make more than one teleportation in a shorter time gap," Jacen said sardonically.
"Ah, yes," Nom Anor agreed with a nod.
"And besides, I can probably stop the marijuana taking effect on your body in case it is toxic to you and your species," Jacen said. "Even cook up a healing agent to get you back to health. And I can even make sure that I won't get too high that I'm incapable of helping you, okay?"
Nom Anor shrugged. "My life is in your hands, then."
Then Jacen lifted his hands to chest level and concentrated. In moments, molecules came together to form a green, fungal-like substance that Jacen held in the air with the Force. With a free hand, he used the Force to call forth two pieces of paper that were lying on the ground on the other side of the room; once he brought them to him, he unleashed some tears that dropped upon the papers. But instead of weakening their structures, all the dirt and dust that had covered them disappeared.
"Here, keep this on your lap," Jacen said as he placed the lump of marijuana on Nom Anor's thighs. He then picked up the papers, ripped them up into nice little pieces, and then gave one of the pieces to Nom Anor.
"Now watch what I do," Jacen said as he took some of the marijuana, placed it on the paper, and then rolled the paper up. Once it was tightly packed up, Jacen snapped the thumb and forefinger of his left hand beneath the end of the joint that was pointing away from his mouth, and a brief flame appeared that lit that end.
"I doubt I can do that last part," Nom Anor commented. "Actually, I don't think I can even roll up the paper." He held up his dead artificial hand. "You broke this, remember?"
"I'll do the fire for you," Jacen said. "And let me fix that up. You do the rest." He reached over with one hand and sent a bolt of Electric Judgement through Nom Anor's artificial hand, allowing it to come alive again. "It's at normal strength, by the way. Come on, make your own joint."
Nom Anor promptly repeated what Jacen did, then let the Jedi light up the opposing end of the joint with a finger-flame.
Then the two of them inhaled their joints.
Sometime later, they were both baked out of their minds, lounging lazily on the couch in euphoric bliss.
"Hey, man," Jacen said, "you okay? You're not poisoning or anything?"
Nom Anor laughed for no other reason than that he was high. "No, I'm fine. I'm fine. You?"
"Not gettin' any freakouts yet," Jacen said.
Nom Anor's expression then became slightly concerned. "Freakouts? What freakouts?"
Jacen looked at the Yuuzhan Vong dumbly before he said, "Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that one possible side effect to smokin' weed is that you may have a little freakout for no reason. This has occurred between members of the species that have done this before. All you need to know, though, bro, is that you don't have to stay in this room; you have to stay in this apartment, but you don't have to stay in this room."
Nom Anor's eyes widened. "That's the thing, man. I don't think I can stay in this apartment." He then began to hyperventilate, wheezing uncontrollably from where he sat.
Jacen then flattened the palm of his right hand and began creating the counteragent that would reduce the psychological effects that were taking their toll on Nom Anor.
"It's like a prison in here, man!" Nom Anor exclaimed. "Like I'm back in Onimi's society! Where I'm not free and I can't do anything without having two eyes in the back of my head! It's like the walls are closing in on me, Jacen! Stop the walls from closing in! Stop everyone else from trying to kill me!"
"Nommy, calm down, calm down," Jacen said as he leveled the hand containing the cupped marijuana counteragent. "Just drink this. The walls will stop closing in when you do."
Without hesitation, Nom Anor grabbed both hands against Jacen's and gulped down the counteragent liquid. Moments after drinking it, he relaxed back on the couch, lounging again.
"Okay," he said. "I think I'm feeling better again. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Jacen replied.
"And I also mean that for sparing my life and saving it from the Bothans," Nom Anor said sincerely.
Jacen looked at the Yuuzhan Vong with pleasant surprise before he promptly returned to his mild euphoria.