Star Wars Geek Alert!

[ FOLLOW THE ORIGINAL THREAD HERE ]

Opening statements by:

EinNigma: I seem to have retained a lot of knowledge of the Star Wars Universe from my younger years.

KFarlander: George Lucas' Star Wars, or the Expanded Universe? And were you ever acquainted with the Yuuhzan Vong?

Slayer: oh man, the yuuhzan vong! theyre the greatest bad guys ever in any story out there! i just love them! it'd be sic if theyd be in some star wars game! but i dont have all the books about them though do the humans ever beat them?? how???

The Vongs rock! They've got to be among the most original 'bad guys' around, although if you've read enough of the NJO books you'll realise that there's more to them than being bad.

I'm assuming that you've gone at least as far as the Edge of Victory books, where Anakin Solo rescues Tahiri from the Vong, who'd been trying to reprogram her as a Vong called Riina Kwaad, and in the process causes the Shamed Ones to look to the Jedi as their salvation.

How the Vong wars ends (Spoilers)

1. Rogue Planet

In Greg Bear's prequel 'Rogue Planet' Anakin and Obi-Wan, searching for a missing Jedi named Vergere who was sent to trace the source of living Sekotan starships, find the living (and sentient) planet Zonama Sekot whose inhabitants use living things in their daily lives, pretty much like the Vong, only they've fused them with technology. They then discover that an alien race called the 'Far Outsiders' has attacked the planet before. Three guesses as to whom these aliens were!

2. Star by Star

In attempt to hunt down the Voxyn Queen (which was engineered from the vornskrs of ... Myrkr, I think), which is being used by the Vong to hunt down Jedi, Anakin Solo is killed, and Jacen Solo is captured by the Vongs. Coruscant falls.

3. Traitor

At the end of Star by Star, Jacen Solo is captured by the Vong. He meets Vergere (who provided the warmaster Tsavong Lah with info about the Millennium Falcon in the first place), who has become the familiar of a Vong priestess, and who tells him her story: that when the Far Outsiders attacked Sekot, she gave herself up to them in exchange for the safety of the planet, leaving a message for the Jedi warning them about the Vong. Vergere initially takes away the Force from Jacen but continues his training, teaching him that there is more to the Force than light and dark, and teaches him other ways to tap into the Force's energy. Jacen eventually discovers his new powers, and the two eventually escape and return to the New Republic.

4. Destiny's Way

Jaina Solo kills Tsavong Lah in battle at Ebaq. Vergere sacrifices her life to take out the Vongs on the surface of the moon, Ebaq 9.

5. Force Heretic Trilogy

Luke, Mara and Jacen go off into the Unknown Regions in search of Zonama Sekot, which they believe is the key to ending the Vong wars. They eventually find it, and convinces it to accompany them back to known space.

6. The Final Conflict

Tahiri, Tekli and Corran Horn infiltrate Coruscant, now renamed Yuuhzan'taar and reshaped, in an attempt to make contact with the prophet of the Shamed Ones, Yu'shaa (who is in fact none other than Nom Anor). They take the priest Harrar and priestess Nen Yim along with 'Yu'shaa' to Sekot, where Nom Anor aka Yu'shaa kills Nen Yim and injures Harrar before escaping. Harrar is rescued by the Ferroans, and subsequently joins the Jedi in searching for an end to the Vong conflict. The NR develops the Alpha Red virus, which it plans to unleash upon the Vong; Leia, Wedge & co. fight tooth nail and claw to prevent this. Um.... I think it was in this book, anyway.

7. The Unifying Force

The truth behind the Forcelessness of the Vong is revealed: when a highly technological civilisation attacked the Vongs in the distant past, the Vong gods bestowed upon them knowledge of how to turn living resources into weapons, thus enabling them to win the war; unfortunately this led to the Vongs falling out of favour with their gods and subsequently being stripped of the Force. The Vong's self-mutilation is their only connection with their past - by inflicting pain upon themselves they are simulating the horrible pain of the Force separation.

The Vong plan and stage an attack on Mon Calamiri, the current base for the New Republic (after Coruscant fell). The NR, who know of this, take the opportunity and split their forces: one half to defend Mon Cal, and the other to sneak off and attack Coruscant-now-Yuuhzan'taar. Meanwhile Sekot destroys a stronghold on the planet, and pushes three of its moons out of position. However, when it discovers that a ship infected with Alpha Red is being sent to destroy it (the NR people didn't keep their word after all! and Shimrra turned their weapon against them by redirecting it to Sekot), it renders all ships in its airspace useless and brings them down on land.

Meanwhile...

Luke defeats Supreme Overlord Shimrra in battle at Coruscant. It is then discovered that it is not Shimrra who is the Supreme Overlord after all, but the Shamed One Onimi, who has been using Shimrra as a puppet, and has furthermore found a way of tapping into the Force. Jacen Solo becomes One with the Force, becoming a conduit for it in a way that is neither good nor bad (as opposed to Anakin, who became a living conduit for what the Jedi then believed to be the light side, in fighting the Vong in Star by Star), and in doing so is able to eradicate the evil in Onimi, destroying him.

With the deaths of Shimrra and Onimi, the Vongs surrender - although many choose suicide over defeat. Sekot reveals that it is 'taking the Vongs home', instead of destroying them. The Vongs depart with Zonama Sekot back into the Unknown Regions, thus ending the conflict, and the rebuilding of Coruscant begins. Happy Ending.

Spoiler: Admiral Ackbar dies just before the final conflict.

Tremendous spoiler: Boba Fett makes a small, but highly punchy appearance in the final book! He saves Han and Leia's lives on Caluula; later you learn that he and his merry band of Mandalorian armour-clad soldiers have been going around the galaxy, helping to liberate Vong-oppressed people, and generally doing as much damage to the Vongs as they could. Strange times call for strange actions.....

*Gasp* Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?