The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee

Force Heretic II: Refugee, the second book in the Force Heretic Trilogy, is a novel by Sean Williams and Shane Dix, published in 2003. The paperback version includes a preview of Shatterpoint.

American

 * ISBN 0345428714; May 2003, Del Rey, 397-page paperback
 * ISBN 0553713655; April 29, 2003, Random House Audio, Abridged cassette

Foreign

 * ISBN 8324116532; Amber, 320-page Polish paperback (Heretyk Mocy II: Uchodźca)

Publisher's summary
'''Swift and deadly, the Yuuzhan Vong have blasted their way across the galaxy&mdash;and now stand on the threshold of total victory. Yet a courageous few still dare to oppose them&hellip;'''

Rife with hostile cultures and outright enemies, the Unknown Regions hold many perils for Luke Skywalker and the Jedi searching for Zonama Sekot, the living planet that may hold the key to dealing with the Yuuzhan Vong once and for all.

''Meanwhile, on the edge of the galaxy and in the heart of a trusted ally, old enemies are stirring. The Yuuzhan Vong have inflamed long-forgotten vendettas that are even now building up to crisis point. And as Han and Leia journey on their quest to knit the unraveling galaxy back together, betrayal and deception await them&hellip;''

Plot Summary
Nom Anor is in his guise as Yu'shaa the Prophet on Yuuzhan'tar and he is perfecting the Shamed Ones' Jedi heresy against Supreme Overlord Shimrra in his appearances for praise of the Shamed Ones' new religion. Meanwhile, he is trying to find a suitable spy to enter Shimrra's courtroom, but all attempts have failed. But Nom Anor finally meets Ngaaluh, a priestess of Yun-Harla whom has entered into Nom Anor's sanctuary to team up with him and bring Shimrra down since she doesn't believe that the Yuuzhan Vong War is worth serving Shimrra, and agrees to play a spy for Nom Anor in entering Shimrra's throne since the Supreme Overlord still trusts her.

In the Unknown Regions, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker, Jacen Solo, Danni Quee, Saba Sebatyne and Tekli, along with some help from the Imperial Remnant enter Chiss space and are allowed by the Chiss to enter their homeworld of Csilla to find library records of where the living planet Zonama Sekot might be hiding now. But Luke and company only have two days to look through the whole library to search for systems in the Unknown Regions that have gained any planets all of a sudden in the last fifty years. And along the way, Jacen meets and befriends Wynssa "Wyn" Fel, daughter of Soontir Fel and Syal Antilles, and sister of Jagged Fel, all of whom are trusted allies of the Chiss. But when rogue Chiss who believe that Soontir is more of a danger to the Chiss because of allowing Luke and his company access to Chiss records, they try to kidnap Wyn. However, thanks to Jacen, Wyn is saved and Luke and the rest of his party manage to unveil the rogue Chiss to the Chiss High Council. Because of this, Luke and company are granted an extended access into Chiss records for their search for Zonama Sekot. Jacen begins to lose hope in finding Sekot until he guesses that the living planet might actually be hiding as a moon. The search party for the living planet take note of this and decide to look for systems that have actually gained moons in a quick amount of time in the past fifty years, and they estimate that Zonama Sekot must now be orbiting the gas giant Mobus. So Luke and company depart Csilla and go to the Mobus system.

Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Jaina Solo, Jagged Fel and Tahiri Veila all arrive at Bakura to try to bring the planet into the Galactic Alliance in the Yuuzhan Vong War. But Bakura is going through a revolutionary stage right now - the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium's former slaves, the P'w'eck, have decided to consecrate the planet by the permission of the Bakuran government, lead by Prime Minister Molierre Cundertol. But Cundertol has just recently been kidnapped, and all the blame is being directed to Malinza Thanas and her group of rebels who don't believe the P'w'eck should consecrate Bakura. But immediately, Cundertol returns from an escape pod from a ship that explodes once it reached the Bakura system and explains how he managed to overpower his kidnappers and return just as Malinza has been arrested for her accused crime of having the Prime Minister kidnapped.

However, it turns out that Cundertol had actually betrayed the planet to the actual Ssi-ruuvi Imperium to be put into a Human Replica Droid, and that one of Cundertol's assistants, Blaine Harris, had also secretly been working with Malinza but would betray her by killing all of the important figures before the Keeramak completely consecrates the planet by bombing certain areas of the arena where the consecration will take place in, including Cundertol's. Meanwhile, Jaina brakes Malinza out of prison to bring her to the rest of her rebel group, but they're all betrayed and brought to Harris by Malinza's Rodian member. Meanwhile, Tahiri meets the next Ryn contact, Goure, to help crack down Cundertol's betrayal. Tahiri, thanks to Han and Leia, learns that the inner conflict that had been bothering her since before she left with Jaina and everyone else from Mon Calamari was that it came from Riina Kwaad, the Yuuzhan Vong persona implanted by the late Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad which had been suppressed thanks to help from the late Anakin Solo who had been Tahiri's one true love and had died on the Mission to Myrkr to kill the Voxyn queen. Ever since Tahiri had moved on from grieving from Anakin's loss, her guilt dragged Riina back into her life. So Tahiri separates herself from Han and Leia and buries herself into cracking down Cundertol's betrayal with Goure. This all leads to Tahiri and Goure saving Jaina, Malinza and her rebel group and defeating Harris and his Rodian assistant. But the bomb which will kill many in the arena will go off soon, so Tahiri heads off in a vain attempt to stop it. It explodes before she can deactivate it and Harris's plan succeeds, and Cundertol appears to be among the dead. And after the Keeramak consecrates the planet, the second Ssi-ruuvi invasion on Bakura begins and it is revealed the P'w'eck are still the Ssi-ruuk's slaves. However, just as the Galactic Alliance are about to lose the Battle of Bakura, the P'w'eck turn on the Ssi-ruuvi and bring victory to the Alliance in the end. The Keeramak is also shot dead by a P'w'eck. Cundertol also reveals he is alive and executes Harris by shooting him, but his betrayal to Bakura with the Ssi-ruuvi is figured out so he tries to flee. After a brief fight with Jaina who unsuccessfully tries to stop him, he goes off and Jaina figures out that Cundertol was a Human Replica Droid.

But Cundertol's failure does not go unpunished when the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium general he meets up with reveals that he was actually a Yuuzhan Vong and uses a remote on Cundertol to pause his body long enough for the Yuuzhan Vong to kill him. Meanwhile, back on Bakura, it is revealed that when the bomb in the arena went off, Tahiri did manage to survive by putting a Force bubble around herself, but she went into a coma immediately afterwards. As for Goure, he tells Jaina and her party the next location they should go to in order to reestablish contact with the rest of the galaxy for the Galactic Alliance.

Dramatis personae

 * Nom Anor; former executor (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Molierre Cundertol; Prime Minister, Bakura (male Human)
 * Shoon-mi Esh; Shamed One and heretic (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Jagged Fel; Twin Suns Squadron co-leader (male Human)
 * Soontir Fel; former Imperial Baron, now Assistant Syndic in the Chiss terrertories (male Human)
 * Wynssa (Wyn) Fel youngest daughter of Syal Antilles and Soontir Fel (female Human)
 * Goure; Bakuran worker (male Ryn)
 * Blaine Harris; Deputy Prime Minister, Bakura (male Human)
 * Hess'irolia'nuruodo (Irolia); commander (female Chiss)
 * Shimrra Jamaane; Supreme Overlord (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Keeramak; mutant leader of the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium (genderless Ssi-ruu)
 * Kunra; Shamed One and heretic (male Yuuzhan Vong)
 * Lwothin; advance leader of the P'w'eck Emancipation Movement (male P'w'eck)
 * Todra Mayn; captain, Pride of Selonia (female Human)
 * Grell Panib; general, Bakuran Defense Fleet (male Human)
 * Danni Quee; scientist (female Human)
 * Saba Sebatyne; Jedi Knight (female Barabel)
 * Luke Skywalker; Jedi Master (male Human)
 * Mara Jade Skywalker; Jedi Master (female Human)
 * Han Solo; captain, Millennium Falcon (male Human)
 * Jacen Solo; Jedi Knight (male Human)
 * Jaina Solo; Jedi Knight, Twin Suns Squadron co-leader (female Human)
 * Leia Organa Solo; former New Republic diplomat (female Human)
 * Tekli; Jedi Knight (female Chadra-Fan)
 * Malinza Thanas; founder of the Freedom resistance movement (female Human)
 * Tahiri Veila; Jedi Knight (female Human)
 * Arien Yage; captain, Widowmaker (female Human)

Other characters

 * Peita Aabe
 * Arrizza
 * At'raoth
 * C-3PO
 * Cakhmaim
 * Drathul
 * E'thinaa
 * Syal Antilles Fel
 * Gaitzi
 * Soron Hegerty
 * Ina'ganet'nuruodo
 * Jakan
 * Jjorg
 * Jocell
 * Hreven Karsh
 * Selwin Markota
 * Meewahl
 * Ngaaluh
 * Onimi
 * R2-D2
 * Rufarr
 * Salkeli
 * Schifil
 * Scod
 * Stalgis
 * Tarl (Yuuzhan Vong War)
 * Tris (Chiss)
 * Vyram
 * Zel (Bakuran)

Creatures

 * Nooroop

Locations

 * Bakura
 * Coruscant
 * Csilla
 * Munlali Mafir

Organizations and titles

 * Chiss Ascendancy
 * Galactic Federation of Free Alliances
 * Imperial Remnant
 * Yuuzhan Vong Empire
 * Jeedai heresy
 * The Select

Miscellanea

 * Battle plan A-seven
 * Deflector grille
 * Secrecy Act

Behind the scenes
While Tahiri and the Ryn are in the Bakuran subsystems, they disguise themselves as Yon, Gaitzi and Scod, a cleaning gang known as "The Tripod". This is a reference to Australian musical comedy group Tripod, and its members Scott "Scod" Edgar, Simon "Yon" Hall and Steven "Gatesy" Gates. The band frequently references Star Wars in its songs, with numbers such as The Star Wars Love Song (an ode to the lesser-known romances in the Star Wars universe).

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Force Heretic II: Refugee.