Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/May 5, 2010

Viqi Shesh was a female Human politician from the Kuat system who attained galactic infamy due to her collaboration with the invading Yuuzhan Vong species during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Obssessed with power, Shesh rose to prominence as the representative of Kuat in the New Republic Senate. When the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong invaded the New Republic in 25 ABY and inflicted heavy defeats upon the government and the military, Shesh soon decided that her best chances of survival lay with the winning side. Over a two year period, the Kuati senator passed vital information and military intelligence to Yuuzhan Vong spymasters with the intention of encouraging the invaders to spare Kuat and provide her with a position of power in their administration. A skilled politician, Shesh managed to secure herself the position of administrative senator for the Senate Select Committee for Refugees, whereupon she channeled millions of displaced persons to worlds she knew would be targeted by the Yuuzhan Vong, such as the planet Duro. When Warmaster Tsavong Lah, the military leader of the Yuuzhan Vong, came to spearhead the invasion, Shesh maintained personal contact with the fierce warrior, unaware that she was being used and was ultimately intended to be discarded. A vocal opponent of Master Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order, Shesh aided the warmaster in his vendetta against the Jedi by pushing for their exile from the New Republic and championing the betrayal of the Order to the invaders in return for peace.

The full extent of the Kuati woman's collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong went undiscovered and, although the suspicions of her colleague Leia Organa Solo led to Shesh's loss of her seat on the refugee committee, she remained prominent in the Senate, presenting herself as a rival to Bothan Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya. Warmaster Lah later promised Shesh the position of puppet Chief of State with the proviso that she arrange the assassination of Fey'lya. Shesh's attempt failed and she was soon thwarted in her efforts to divide the New Republic Senate by Luke Skywalker, who formed an alliance with Fey'lya and the New Republic military in opposition to her anti-Jedi policies. The Kuati politician was forced to turn to espionage and abduction to prove her worth to Tsavong Lah, becoming increasingly distanced from her life as a high profile senator. Under Lah's orders, Shesh targeted Han and Leia Organa Solo, as well as their nephew Ben Skywalker. A bungled attack on the Solo residence, however, resulted in the revelation of Shesh's identity as a Yuuzhan Vong spy to the New Republic and the Kuati politician was sent fleeing into Coruscant's underbelly. In a last gamble to appease the Yuuzhan Vong, Shesh attempted to kidnap Ben Skywalker while the warmaster's armada attacked and conquered Coruscant in 27 ABY.

Shesh was foiled in her scheme shortly thereafter and was left with little choice but to present herself to the Yuuzhan Vong empty handed. Openly known as a traitor to the New Republic, Shesh was of no further use to Tsavong Lah and was sentenced to execution by the warmaster. Providing the warrior with advice in return for her continued survival, Shesh spent a short time acting as Lah's spymaster, directing Yuuzhan Vong agent Tam Elgrin to spy on a New Republic base on the planet Borleias before being dispatched to the ruined surface of Coruscant to hunt down Jedi alongside a team of Yuuzhan Vong warriors. The former senator spent the last days of her life clinging to survival, alternately pursued by a deranged Dark Jedi or monitored by Yuuzhan Vong warriors assigned to ensure her obedience to Tsavong Lah's directives. Traveling across Coruscant's despoiled cityscape in search for a means of escape, Shesh's chances were further complicated by the arrival of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, along with a New Republic insertion team. When she was finally outmaneuveured and confronted by her numerous enemies, Viqi Shesh chose to commit suicide, plummeting to her death in the shadows of Coruscanti buildings that she had helped to topple.