Lost Tribe of Sith emergence

"Praise circumstances for the time of your birth, young one. For you will know the honor and responsibilities and delights of being among the first in five millennia to leave Kesh&hellip;and rejoin our brethren, from whom we have been separated for so very long, to take your place in ruling a Sith galaxy."

- Olaris Rhea, to Vestara Khai, shortly after Ship's arrival

The resurgence of the Lost Tribe of Sith marked the return of the Sith Tribe in galactic affairs after thousands of years of isolation on the planet Kesh. In 5,000 BBY, the dreadnaught Omen crashed on Kesh, and the survivors of the accident formed the Lost Tribe. However, they were unable to contact the outside galaxy or repair their vessel, and they remained trapped on the world until the arrival of the Sith Meditation Sphere Ship in 41 ABY. Ship helped take the Sith offworld to stage attacks on vessels, which were salvaged for parts to repair the Omen and captured for use in the Sith fleet. In 43.5 ABY, the Tribe felt the presence of Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker in the Force, and Ship was forced to leave the Tribe by the dark side entity Abeloth. The Sith thus sent a strike team under Lady Olaris Rhea to recover Ship and kill Skywalker. The mission went poorly; Ship remained in Abeloth's control, and the strike team's sole survivor was Sith apprentice Vestara Khai.

The mission to recover Khai&mdash;who fled to the planet Dathomir&mdash;was led by Lord Viun Gaalan. Gaalan captured several dark side-wielding Nightsisters from the world, but Skywalker, his son Ben, and the Force-sensitive Dyon Stadd forced him to flee, and the Jedi captured Khai. However, before they could leave Dathomir, they were stopped by a fleet led by Sith High Lord Sarasu Taalon, who proposed an alliance to confront Abeloth&mdash;who was also causing a psychosis amongst the Jedi. The alliance held together until they battled Abeloth, and the Sith betrayed the Jedi and tried to capture the entity. The Jedi nevertheless survived, and Luke Skywalker appeared to kill Abeloth. The Sith repaired their alliance with the Skywalkers to learn more about Abeloth; they soon discovered that she had actually survived, and the alliance again fell apart. The Sith then hunted the Jedi and Abeloth to the moon Pydyr, where another battle left Taalon dead.

Soon afterward, Sith Saber Gavar Khai arranged a project to prevent the culmination of a vision that Taalon had seen that showed a Jedi queen who could prevent the Sith's rise to power; but the plan ultimately failed. Meanwhile, Gavar Khai led Operation Shieldfall to kill or capture Abeloth and eliminate the Skywalkers on the planet Nam Chorios, but the Jedi defeated the Sith again. Afterward, Abeloth feigned an alliance with the Sith in order to destroy the Jedi. She was brought to the Kesh capital city, Tahv, where she attempted to assassinate the Sith Grand Lord Darish Vol and proceeded to attack the city itself, leaving it in ruins. As she fled, several Sith, led by Khai, deserted the Tribe and joined Abeloth's fleet. The Sith pushed on with their plans to infiltrate the galactic capital Coruscant and take over the galaxy, but Abeloth killed Vol and forced the Sith on Coruscant to assist her in becoming Chief of State herself.

Prelude
"It was our destiny to land on this rock&mdash;and we are bound to our destiny. For a time, it looks like, we're also bound to this rock. So be it. We're Sith. Let's make it ours."

- Yaru Korsin, first Grand Lord of the Lost Tribe of Sith

In 5,000 BBY, the Sith dreadnaughts Omen and Harbinger were on a mission to procure powerful Lignan crystals for the use of the Sith Empire in the Great Hyperspace War when they were ambushed by the Jedi Relin Druur and Drev Hassin. In the ensuing skirmish, both ships attempted to flee into hyperspace, but they collided right as the Omen hyperdrive engaged, knocking the vessel off course. The Omen came out of hyperspace very close to the remote planet Kesh, where it crash-landed in a mountain range. The vessel's communications devices were rendered useless, and the world&mdash;home only to the technologically primitive Keshiri species&mdash;did not contain the materials needed to rebuild the Omen. The Sith who survived the crash thus took control of the world from the Keshiri and set up a new Sith Tribe, ruled by a Grand Lord and a council called the Circle of Lords. They made the city of Tahv their capital and built a Sith Temple over the preserved wreck of the Omen.

A new armada
"When Ship came to us with the news of the near extinction of the Sith, we did not fall victim to despair. We acted. Vessel by vessel, we are assembling a fleet with which we will eventually take back the galaxy from the Jedi, who spread like vermin throughout system after system."

- Lady Olaris Rhea

The Tribe survived for over 5,000 years in isolation on Kesh until the Second Galactic Civil War, when the Sith Meditation Sphere Ship found the Tribe in 41 ABY. Ship informed the Tribe of the happenings of the galaxy since the Omen accident, including the Sith Empire's failure in the Great Hyperspace War, the near-destruction of the most recent Sith Order, and the renewed dominance of the Jedi Order in the galaxy. The Sith Tribe thus decided to use Ship in the rebuilding of a brand new Sith armada to serve the Tribe in an invasion of the galaxy.

On the first mission, Ship took High Lord Sarasu Taalon, Lady Olaris Rhea, Lord Ivaar Workan, Sith Saber Ruku Myal, and Sith apprentice Vestara Khai&mdash;the first being on Kesh who had been contacted by Ship&mdash;to ambush a Damorian s18 light freighter and salvage it for parts to begin repairs on the Omen. They ambushed the freighter, slaughtered the crew, and brought the vessel's parts back to Kesh. The Tribe continued its attacks on various vessels, leaving none of their victims alive, until the Omen was successfully repaired, at which point they turned their efforts toward the capture of intact ships. They also built a spaceport for their fleet at Tahv, and by 43.5 ABY the armada numbered greater than two dozen vessels.

In that year, the Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker came into contact with a powerful object, the Codex, which magnified his presence in the Force. The Sith then decided to send a strike team to eliminate the Grand Master in order to pave the way for their invasion. While that plan was being discussed, however, Ship's will was overcome by Abeloth, a powerful dark side entity, and the Meditation Sphere abruptly deserted the Tribe. The strike team was thus given the task of tracking down and recovering Ship before killing Skywalker.

The strike team
"Luke Skywalker has done much to fight the Sith, the dark side. He was at one point the last Jedi, and now he has re-created the Order with hundreds of them. And now, somehow, he has broadcast his presence into the Force. And we can take him down."

- Lady Olaris Rhea

The strike team embarked on their mission aboard the impressed warship, Eternal Crusader. To the Sith's surprise, Ship allowed Vestara Khai&mdash;who accompanied her Master, Olaris Rhea, along with several other Sith on the mission&mdash;to track the Meditation Sphere. Though the Sith were suspicious of a trap, they decided to continue on their task regardless, and finally arrived at a planet in the Maw. There, a group of Sith was sent planetside to retrieve Ship; however, they were unable to find the vessel, and the planet's dangerous flora and fauna began taking its toll on the Sith's numbers. Soon, the Sith also encountered Abeloth, who claimed to have been stranded on the world for the past thirty years. While she pretended to help the Sith in their search for Ship, it was she forced the Medtation Sphere to stay out of the Sith's possession; and the Sith continued shuttling down reinforcements from the Eternal Crusader until there was no one left aboard the warship.

After an incident in which Abeloth attempted to use her control over the world to drown Rhea and Khai successfully saved her Master, Khai was able to see through Abeloth's apparently Human appearance&mdash;in reality, she possessed a much more alien form. Meanwhile, Sith Master Yuvar Xal had grown weary of Rhea's leadership and planned a coup against her. Before he could carry it out, however, Abeloth revealed that she had learned of the presence of Skywalker&mdash;as well as his son, Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker&mdash;aboard the space station Sinkhole Station in the Maw. Ship finally returned to the Sith, and Abeloth instructed them to capture the Skywalkers and take them back to Kesh. The surviving members of the strike team&mdash;which had been whittled down to approximately fifteen Sith&mdash;were then taken by Ship to the station, and Rhea changed the objective back to eliminating the Jedi. They ambushed the Skywalkers, but their attack went badly. Xal attempted to execute his coup in the middle of the fighting, and he and his apprentice were killed, along with the rest of the strike team excepting Khai, who managed to flee to the planet Dathomir.

The alliance
"We have a common cause.''" "Are&mdash;are you suggesting we form an alliance?" "''Precisely."

- High Lord Sarasu Taalon and Grand Master Luke Skywalker

Desperate to learn the identity of their assailants, the Skywalkers tracked Khai to Dathomir, where they found her under the protection of the native Dathomiri Witches, who&mdash;unaware of her Sith origins and intentions of betrayal&mdash;had adopted her into their Clan. Meanwhile, Khai had sent a hypercomm message back to her homeworld, informing the Tribe of the strike team's destruction and her survival. She also made an arrangement with a group of local darksiders, known as Nightsisters, to meet with members of her Tribe and exchange techniques, although in reality she intended for the Nightsisters to be captured by her Tribe.

Lord Viun Gaalan led a contingent of Sith planetside to capture the Nightsisters and retrieve Khai, but before he could leave with the Sith apprentice, the Skywalkers and their Force-sensitive ally Dyon Stadd arrived and attacked the Sith. Gaalan was forced to flee without Khai, who was subsequently captured by the Jedi. Her treachery revealed to the Witches, they banished Khai from their Tribe. However, as the Jedi took her offworld, they were confronted in orbit by a large fleet of ChaseMaster frigates commanded by High Lord Sarasu Taalon. To the Jedi's surprise, Taalon proposed an alliance to travel into the Maw and confront Abeloth&mdash;who had been inducing a psychosis amongst the Jedi Order's Knights. The Skywalkers were forced to reluctantly agree, although they did not trust the Sith&mdash;indeed, the Tribe planned not to kill Abeloth as Taalon suggested, but to capture her for their own use before killing the Jedi.

In order to keep some amount of leverage, Luke Skywalker convinced Taalon to let him keep Khai aboard his own vessel, the Jade Shadow&mdash;despite the fact that Khai's father, the Sith Saber Gavar, was amongst Taalon's forces&mdash;as well as to meet up with his friend, businessman Lando Calrissian, who could assist them in navigating the Maw. They agreed to meet Calrissian at the planet Klatooine; however, while there, Taalon became fascinated by the planet's wintrium Fountain of the Hutt Ancients, and he ordered two of his vessels to obtain a sample of the wintrium. They desecrated the sacred fountain and were abruptly captured by Hutt forces; the crew of one frigate was condemned to death, while the crew of the other was allowed to go free. Nevertheless, the violation led to a crisis between the Klatooinians and the Hutts&mdash;who were bound by treaty to protect the fountain&mdash;and ultimately an uprising against the Hutts. The uprising went on to inspire several other slave revolts across the galaxy.

Meanwhile, the main fleet had left Klatooine, as both Taalon and Grand Master Skywalker had begun to feel restless, and Calrissian&mdash;who was accompanied by Jedi Knight Jaina Solo&mdash;caught up to the fleet just outside the Maw. Luke Skywalker convinced the Sith to stop first at Sinkhole Station, because that was where he and his son had first encountered Abeloth. However, upon their arrival they found that it had been demolished. One Sith vessel flew too close to the wreckage and was destroyed, despite the efforts of Calrissian and his asteroid tug. The fleet then moved on to Abeloth's planet, where Vestara Khai and Ben Skywalker&mdash;both of whom had flown in Ship before; the latter during the Second Galactic Civil War&mdash;sensed Ship's presence, and the allies landed to search for Abeloth.

There, Luke Skywalker led Taalon, Gavar Khai, and Sith Captain Leeha Faal to the realm of the Force known as beyond shadows to try and locate Abeloth. However, while there, Faal fell into the Depths of Eternity&mdash;from which no one could be saved or retrieved&mdash;much to Taalon's fury. Soon afterward, Skywalker saw his deceased wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, in the Lake of Apparitions, and she convinced him that they had to leave the realm immediately. Meanwhile, Vestara Khai had tricked Stadd, who had recently fallen prey to Abeloth's psychosis, into believing that she and the Sith were on his side, and she released him from his captivity aboard the Jade Shadow. The Jedi and Sith tracked Stadd via a homing beacon placed on him by Vestara to a cave, where they found him near-death. He awoke and revealed that Abeloth had begun to drain his life energy, freeing him from the psychosis, and had fled down a tunnel upon sensing the allies' approach.

The allies found Abeloth and attacked her, while Jaina Solo piloted her StealthX starfighter in combat against Ship. During the battle, the Sith finally turned on the Jedi. Nevertheless, Ben Skywalker was able to hold off Gavar Khai in combat while the elder Skywalker fought Abeloth and the rest of the Sith attempted to capture her. Despite the Sith's efforts, the Jedi Grand Master defeated and appeared to kill the entity. The Sith and Jedi then agreed to temporarily reinstate their alliance in order to investigate more into Abeloth and her origins. Calrissian, Solo, and the entire Sith fleet were sent offworld, leaving just Taalon, the Khais, and the Skywalkers to investigate. The Sith sabotaged Calrissian's asteroid tug, sending it on a course toward the gaseous Ashteri's Cloud rather than the galactic capital planet Coruscant. An s18 light freighter and three BDY crew skiffs crewed by Sith forces entered combat with Solo in her StealthX, but she managed to hold the Sith off long enough to flee with Calrissian into hyperspace. Upon Solo's return to Coruscant, the Jedi High Council scrambled to respond to the Sith threat, but contention between the Jedi and the Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala delayed reinforcements from launching.

Pool of Knowledge
"I understand your suspicions, Master Skywalker. But this time, I do intend to kill Abeloth. I have seen what she can do, and I'm no more eager to see her loose in the galaxy than you are.''" "''No. You don't understand what's happening to you, and Abeloth is the only one who knows. She's the only one who can tell you what you're becoming."

- Sarasu Taalon and Luke Skywalker

The tenuous allies soon discovered that Abeloth had actually switched bodies with Stadd, and Skywalker had actually accidentally killed the young man. The being they had thought was Stadd and had left to recover from his injuries aboard the Jade Shadow was actually Abeloth in disguise, and by the time they returned to the vessel she had already escaped. In their ensuing search for her they came up empty-handed, until they finally spoke with Ship, who directed them to the Pool of Knowledge, a powerful Force nexus on the world. Despite the Jedi's reluctance, the Sith insisted on finding the Pool. Once there, Taalon viewed a Jedi queen on the Throne of Balance in the Pool, and fearing that she might prevent the Sith from coming to power, he ordered that the Jedi tell him who she was. They declined, and a duel quickly broke out. No deaths were suffered on either side and the Jedi escaped; however, during the fight, Taalon had jumped into the Pool, and he slowly began to transform into the same kind of being as Abeloth. Meanwhile, Abeloth herself had returned to the vessels, commandeered the Jade Shadow, and fled the world.

Taalon and Gavar Khai decided to beat the younger Khai and send her to spy on the Jedi, ordering her to pretend that they had attacked her in punishment and that she was trying to escape. The elder Skywalker saw through the plan, but he agreed to take her along nonetheless. She and the Jedi tracked Abeloth to Pydyr, where the young Khai managed to send a message to her Tribe, informing them of Abeloth's whereabouts. Taalon and Gavar Khai quickly arrived with a large contingent of Sith, and Taalon offered the Jedi another alliance, promising to kill Abeloth&mdash;Luke Skywalker knew that Taalon just wanted to learn more about what he was becoming, but was forced to accept the offer due to the Sith's overwhelming numbers. In the ensuing battle, numerous Sith were killed due to illusions projected onto them by Abeloth, Taalon was killed by Vestara Khai, who knew that she could not allow a second Abeloth to come into existence, and Abeloth again escaped.

When the Sith learned of the young Khai's perceived treachery, she decided to assist the Skywalkers in fleeing from the Tribe's forces, and they escaped as a large wing of Jedi StealthX reinforcements arrived from the galactic capital planet Coruscant. The Jedi arrivals dominated the Sith forces, and Vestara Khai and the Skywalkers continued to track Abeloth. Khai secretly sent her father a message after they located Abeloth on the planet Nam Chorios, and he led the Sith fleet to the planet in Operation Shieldfall. Shortly before the operation commenced, Sith Saber Tola Annax took a contingent of Sith planetside to ambush the Jedi. Annax's two attacks failed, however; though the Sith soon afterward located Abeloth at a pumping station in the town of Crystal Valley.

Meanwhile, Gavar Khai had developed the Jedi Queen project, wherein a group of Sith led by Querdan Dei were tasked with hunting down and killing the Jedi queen Taalon had seen in the Pool of Knowledge. The Sith discovered that the Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo's likeness closely resembled the Jedi queen, and they set about a plot to assassinate her. However, when they put their plan into motion while Djo was on a diplomatic mission to Klatooine, the project was disturbed by the interference of the true queen seen on the Throne&mdash;Djo's daughter, Allana Solo. Allana was able to delay the Sith long enough for her adopted mother, Leia Organa Solo, to arrive. Organa Solo engaged Dei in a duel and killed him, and the Jedi Queen project was later abandoned.

Meanwhile, the Sith on Nam Chorios attacked an Abeloth who was already weakened from contention with the Jedi, and went on to locate and surround Vestara Khai and the Skywalkers. However, before they could kill the Jedi, the young Khai killed a tsil&mdash;a sentient crystal&mdash;resulting in a massive death convulsion that incapacitated all of the Jedi and Sith in the area. She and the Skywalkers recovered before their Sith assailants, and they fled the pumping station. Meanwhile, the Sith fleet, commanded by Gavar Khai, was ambushed by the Jedi StealthX wing&mdash;which had been in hiding in the system at Grand Master Skywalker's orders in anticipation of the arrival of Sith reinforcements. The Jedi forces, including Jaina Solo's Gray Squadron, Jedi Master Kyle Katarn's Gold Squadron, and the supporting White Squadron, again easily defeated the Sith. Gavar Khai was forced to call a retreat, and Abeloth narrowly escaped from the Jedi in Ship.

Devastation at Tahv
"To imagine, even for a moment, that anything human could even conceive of the vastness that is Abeloth, let alone trap me for your own tiny-minded purposes. Now you shall die, and your world shall become mine."

- Abeloth, to Darish Vol

Afterward, Abeloth contacted Saber Khai and proposed an alliance with him to take down the Jedi. He agreed, and upon conference with Grand Lord Vol and the Circle of Lords on Kesh, they approved of the idea as well. The Sith planned large festivities at their capitcal city of Tahv in order to celebrate Abeloth's arrival; although Khai found his loyalties caught in between the slight political maneuvers of Abeloth and Vol before the celebrations even began. When Abeloth was brought planetside, she took part in the arranged festivities; however, that evening, she decided to stage an attack.

She appeared to the Grand Lord Vol in his sleep and attempted to kill him. However, she maneuvered too recklessly, allowing him to infiltrate her mind. He discovered her desperate loneliness and need for adoration and he mentally dueled her, telling her that she was not loved. Abeloth's assassination attempt was quickly turned into a frantic fight to free herself from Vol's grasp. She finally broke free, leaving Vol weak and in agonizing pain. he quickly told his aide, Revar, to help him to his vessel and to warn the Tribe of Abeloth's betrayal, but it was too late. Abeloth herself was anguished and infuriated, and she discharged wave after wave of destructive dark side Force energy upon the city of Tahv in her torment, killing thousands of its inhabitants and leaving the city burning and in ruins.

Abeloth quickly moved to flee in Ship, but as she took off, several other frigates also launched from the spaceport. Gavar Khai, aboard his flagship, the Black Wave, finally decided to abandon the Tribe and join Abeloth. He ordered that all vessels cover Abeloth's retreat, and he commanded that all those who declined his order or failed to answer were to be shot down. Officially a part of Abeloth's fleet, the Black Wave kept Ship safe long enough to flee into hyperspace. Afterward, the Sith Tribe was forced to abandon their devastated capital. Though weakened, Vol survived the destruction, and prepared for the next stage of the Sith's invasion of the galaxy.

Infiltration of Coruscant
"Dad&mdash;you gave Coruscant to the Lost Tribe?''" "I laid a trap. That's quite a bit different. The Lost Tribe believes it has a destiny to rule the galaxy. What better way to take a huge step toward fulfilling that destiny than to infiltrate Coruscant?" "Uh, Dad, you maybe forgot one little thing." "And that might be?" "''Sith have infiltrated Coruscant!"

- Ben and Luke Skywalker discuss the latter's plan to handle the Lost Tribe of Sith

Meanwhile, several Sith forces began subverting the government on Coruscant. High Lord Ivaar Workan infiltrated the Galactic Alliance Senate disguised as one Senator "Kameron Suldar" and quickly gained prominence. Several more Sith infiltrated various strategic positions within the Galactic Alliance, and others simply came to the planet itself in preparation for their move to take over the seat of government. Meanwhile, the Jedi Order left Coruscant at the orders of Luke Skywalker, who claimed that they needed to separate themselves from governmental affairs following their strained tensions with the recently ousted Daala administration. He made the Order's departure a large public ordeal, ensuring that the Sith took it as a sign that they should put their plans into motion. Unbeknownst to the Tribe, he and the majority of the Jedi Order were embarking on a mission to eliminate Abeloth and Ship, so that they could then return their focus to the Tribe&mdash;which would be gathered on Coruscant&mdash;and defeat the Sith all at once.

The Sith indeed took the Jedi's departure as a sign to advance their plans, and began sending Sith into the Jedi Temple. Meanwhile, they also arrested Organa Solo, the last Jedi on the planet. Workan reported to Vol that their plans were in motion; however, he also revealed that one Senator Rokari Kem had suggested she knew the truth about his identity&mdash;unbeknownst to the Sith, Abeloth had consumed Kem and come to Coruscant in the Senator's guise. Vol responded that he would come to Coruscant and kill Kem himself, and the Sith would then execute the final stages of their plan to take over the galaxy. However, when Vol arrived and went to assassinate "Kem," she overwhelmed and defeated him. Still disguised as Kem, Abeloth then contacted Workan and showed him the Grand Lord's head, ordering the High Lord to meet with her the next day.

She commanded Workan to initiate a vote to replace the current interim Chief of State, Padnel Ovin, with herself. Workan called for the vote, but Ovin stalled with a lengthy speech&mdash;unbeknownst to the Sith, he was engaged in a plan to give Chief of Staff Wynn Dorvan and other Jedi allies time to free Organa Solo from her imprisonment. Finally, Abeloth used her powers to cause Ovin to collapse, and he quickly died. Using her powers to influence the Senators, Abeloth was then able to win the vote, and she rose to power as Chief of State. She then came before Dorvan, who had been captured by three Sith following Organa Solo's escape, and revealed her true form.

Endgame
"Surrender or die. Decide now."

- The Jedi Order's message to the Sith on Coruscant

Once the Sith had established themselves within the Senate, they began to take over other important administrations. Suspecting that the Jedi would soon return and infiltrate their way back into Coruscant, the Sith set themselves up as immigration inspectors. Vestara Khai, however, had predicted their move and forewarned the Jedi&mdash;who indeed sent an infiltration team to liberate Coruscant&mdash;and the Jedi practiced concealing their lies and Force presences so the Sith would not detect them. The Jedi's efforts were further assisted by members of Club Bwua'tu, a secret government organization led by Admiral Nek Bwua'tu and his uncle, Eramuth. Meanwhile, the Sith on Coruscant served under Abeloth, who remained in disguise as Chief of State Rokari Kem. Abeloth ordered High Lord Korelei to torture Dorvan in an attempt to learn valuable information about the Jedi, but he withheld what important information he knew through the Jedi's arrival on the world.

The Jedi arrived aboard the starliner Plain Lady, and as they passed through the inspection stage in the Galactic Center Spaceport, Sith Captain Suhale grew suspicious of Jedi Knights Yantahar Bwua'tu and Yaqeel Saav'etu. However, three nearby Knights, Bazel Warv, Seff Hellin, and Vaala Razelle, helped Bwua'tu and Saav'etu escape the Sith by pretending to be simple spice smugglers in league with the two. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the spaceport, Sith Master Ruku Myal recognized Vestara Khai, despite her disguise. Luke Skywalker immediately used the Force to destract him, and when Myal activated his lightsaber, nearby Galactic Alliance Security troops assumed he was a Jedi and opened fire. In the ensuing combat, Khai stabbed the Sith Master with his own shikkar&mdash;a glass dagger. The Jedi sent a message across the HoloNet, ordering the Sith to surrender or be killed. The Sith refused to surrender, and the Jedi carried out myriad targeted assaults all across the planet, killing nearly 1,000 Sith. Among those killed were Master Jestat Vhool, who was posing as a Galactic Alliance Security Superintendent; Saber Kayala Fei, who was an announcer for BAMR News; and Ivaar Workan, who was killed in a duel in his Senate office. Still, several of the targeted Sith did manage to escape, such as Lady Tela Rovas, and about 5,000 Sith remained alive on Coruscant.

Meanwhile, the Sith launched a wing of Skipray twelve-jays to the planet Ossus to assault the Jedi Academy there. Leia Solo and Captain Han Solo, along with Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo and Jedi Masters Tionne and Kam Solusar, led the evacuation effort to save the Jedi Initiates and their families. Four wings of Hapan Miy'til starfighters helped defend the evacuating craft, but the transport Sharmok 7-18 was boarded by Sith and planted with a baradium bomb. The Jedi and Hapan forces recognized that the vessel was behaving oddly and realized that the Sith had boarded, and thus ordered the Hapan Vhork Squadron, which had been escorting the transport, to open fire. However, the Sharmok promptly exploded with a three-kilometer radius, killing all those aboard and destroying Vhork Squadron. The Jedi realized that the blast had been intended to kill Tenel Ka Djo, whom the Sith still believed could be the prophesied Jedi queen. During the mission, Allana Solo had a vision of the nests of Barabel Jedi Knights Wilyem and Tesar Sebatyne being attacked, and their younglings being killed. Despite her earlier promise to the Barabels to keep the nests' location a secret, she reported her vision, and the Solos traveled back to Coruscant to tell Jedi Knigt Warv, who also knew of the nests.

Battleground Coruscant
"The Jedi attack us everywhere, and yet we have not been able to find them anywhere."

- Lady Korelei, to Abeloth

Since the Jedi's advantage was due to their knowledge of the planet and of the Sith's positions, Abeloth and Korelei wanted to bring the fighting out into the open, where the Sith&mdash;who greatly outnumbered the Jedi&mdash;could easily win, but Dorvan convinced them that the Coruscanti people would not submit to Sith rule so easily. At Dorvan's suggestion, they instead agreed to withdraw all Sith forces into the Jedi Temple, where the Jedi would be forced to face them openly. After they pulled seventy-five percent of the Sith on Coruscant into the Temple, Master Saba Sebatyne led several Jedi Knights, including Izal Waz, on a perpetual hunt of the remaining Sith forces. The Jedi and Club Bwua'tu recognized that the Sith withdrawal was a trap, and thus planned to launch an assault on the Temple from thirty points, hoping to draw the Sith out to the perimeter while Luke Skywalker deactivated the Temple's shields and the rest of the Jedi on the mission&mdash;who would take secret entrances into the Temple's center&mdash;could drive the Sith to the exterior of the Temple. There, the Sith would be sandwiched between enemy forces and subject to the heavy fire of assault carriers commanded by Club Bwua'tu's marines.

The marines commenced their attack, but the Jedi were ambushed by numerous Sith who were aware of their plan. During the battle, Vestara Khai was knocked unconscious and captured by the Sith, after which the Sith forced the Jedi to retreat. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Jedi Master Corran Horn discovered that the computer interface they had hoped to use to override the lockdown of the Temple had been disabled, meaning that the Sith had known about their assault well ahead of time. In truth, much to Dorvan's distress, Abeloth had anticipated the Jedi battle plan and prepared the ambush. In the meantime, Abeloth had grown powerful enough to make use of three bodily manifestations&mdash;one as Chief of State Kem, one as the Imperial lieutenant Lydea Pagorski, and one as the Lady Korelei.

As the assault outside the Temple went on, inside the building Dorvan successfully stole a hold-out blaster from Sith Master Tsiat. Then, when Abeloth&mdash;in the form of Rokari Kem&mdash;entered a trance, he shot the body multiple times, killing it. However, Abeloth quickly arrived on the scene in her true form and stopped Dorvan from committing suicide. Meanwhile, Jaina Solo, the Skywalkers, along with Horn and his children, Valin and Jysella, and Solo's astromech droid, Rowdy, made their way to the Temple's computer core, where they hoped to complete their objective. Jysella found Dorvan in the core, but Abeloth trapped Valin in an air lock&mdash;from which Jysella managed to rescue him&mdash;and kidnapped Ben.

Meanwhile, Vestara Khai had returned to consciousness and escaped, but she was eventually cornered by High Lord Sashal and a group of Sith. Khai&mdash;who had recently deduced the identity of the Jedi queen, Allana Solo&mdash;told Sashal the girl's identity in an attempt to convince the Sith that she was still on their side. Sashal then gave her a detonator and told her to complete her mission to kill the Jedi queen, revealing that the hatchway through which Khai had hoped to escape had finally opened, and Allana, Han, and Leia Solo were outside, along with Jedi Knight Bazel Warv. Khai threw the detonator, which connected with the Solos' ship, the Millennium Falcon, but failed to kill Allana. In the ensuing combat, the majority of the Sith were slaughtered, and Warv was also killed, but the three Solos escaped.

The Jedi and their allies adjusted their plan to destroy the shield generators in order to send in Void Jumper marines, and Corran Horn, Jaina Solo, and Luke Skywalker succeeded in killing one of Abeloth's body in the form of Lady Korelei&mdash;while Abeloth's body in the form of Lydea Pagorski body was simultaneously destroyed on the planet Hagamoor 3. As such, the Jedi were able to take out the Temple's shields, allowing access to the interior of the Temple for the Void Jumpers.

Lost Tribe of Sith
The Lost Tribe of Sith were the descendents of the survivors of the 5,000 BBY crash of the starship Omen on the planet Kesh. The accident occured during the Great Hyperspace War, when the Sith had the intention of fighting for their Empire to take control of the galaxy. Due to the destruction of their vessel and equipment in the crash, the native Keshiri's lack of advanced technology, and the planet's lack of sufficient material to make repairs, the survivors were stranded on the remote world with no way to contact their fellow Sith. As such, the Tribe held on to a desire to return to the galaxy and conquer it in the name of the Sith, a goal which they were eager to put in motion upon the arrival of Ship. With Ship to ferry them offworld, the Tribe began working as pirates to build up their navy and achieve important strategical positioning for their fleet, which contained hundreds of vessels by 44 ABY.

The Sith were willing to go to extensive measures to attain their goals, including temporarily allying with their greatest enemies, the Skywalkers. Although the Tribe suffered internal strife between rival members, they were still capable of working together toward a common goal in large numbers, and they were taught to respect and obey their superiors. Many of their number were susceptible to Abeloth's influence, however, causing their plans of galactic domination to stall. Furthermore, Abeloth's power was so great that she murdered the Tribe's Grand Lord and forced other Sith to serve her purposes and assist in her rise to Chief of State.

New Jedi Order
The New Jedi Order was formed by the Jedi Luke Skywalker following Emperor Palpatine's purge of the original Jedi Order. During the first two years of the Lost Tribe's activity of Kesh, the Jedi Order remained unaware of the Sith. It was not until the strike team ambushed the Skywalkers at Sinkhole Station that the Jedi learned of the new threat, and even then, they were not certain of the nature of their assailants. Since Vestara Khai led them back to Dathomir, the Skywalkers even suspected briefly that their attackers had been from that world. Too, since the most recently dominant Sith Order had been dictated by the Rule of Two, the Jedi were surprised by the fact that the Tribe consisted of many more Sith. The Jedi were further hindered in their dealings with the Sith by the fact that Grand Master Skywalker had been put on trial and exiled from Coruscant for allowing the Jedi Knight Jacen Solo to fall to the dark side during the Second Galactic Civil War.

While the Grand Master was accompanied on his travels by his son, he was not allowed any other form of contact with the Jedi Order. Furthermore, when the Jedi on Coruscant were made aware of the threat, they were unable to mobilize due to their conflict with the administration of Chief of State Natasi Daala. When Jedi had begun to fall prey to Abeloth's psychosis, the government and the Jedi did not agree on who should be allowed to keep the captive Knights. Interim Grand Master Kenth Hamner was also very conservative in his leadership; he did not want to allow the Jedi to launch their StealthX wing to help the Skywalkers on Pydyr because he feared that Daala would believe the launch was directed at her and would start an open war on the Order. Eventually, Hamner was killed in combat with Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne after he tried to sabotage the launch of the starfighters. Sebatyne was then made interim Grand Master until Skywalker was granted pardon and allowed to return. Skywalker then led the entire Jedi Order off Coruscant for a mission to eliminate Ship and Abeloth, with the purpose of luring the Sith Tribe to Coruscant so that upon their return the Jedi could defeat the Sith in one operation.

Abeloth
The dark side being Abeloth was imprisoned on a planet in the Maw, where she was kept detained by Sinkhole Station. She was able to extend her reach over Force-sensitive beings who spent time in the Maw, causing them to develop a psychosis and yearn to find her. Those who came to her stayed at Sinkhole Station and become known as Mind Walkers; she routinely fed off of their life energies. Following the destruction of Centerpoint Station in the Second Galactic Civil War, Sinkhole Station began to fall into disrepair, until finally, in 44 ABY, she was able to destroy Sinkhole. Afterward, she was finally able to move offworld, although she was kept on the run by the Jedi and Sith who hunted her, preventing her from achieving her desire to become the "Beloved Queen of the Stars."

Her true nature remained a mystery to the Sith and Jedi for some time, although her actions were often dominated by the presence of the former Jedi Callista Ming, whom she had consumed. Ming, a former lover of Luke Skywalker, at times was able to influence Abeloth's actions and even prevent her from harming Skywalker. On Nam Chorios, the Grand Master finally extracted Ming's presence from Abeloth, allowing the former Jedi to die. Abeloth's hold on her psychotic followers was broken when she was severely weakened after her initial defeat to Skywalker on her prison world as well as following the removal of Ming's spirit. She finally resolved to have her followers lead the Jedi astray, giving her time to gather her strength and take over the government on Coruscant.

Darish Vol
"Nothing can hold her&hellip; Fool to think I could use her&hellip; What is she?&hellip; By the dark, the greatest mistake I have ever made&hellip;"

- Darish Vol, on Abeloth

The Human male Darish Vol was the Grand Lord of the Lost Tribe of Sith. In that capacity he was the Tribe's highest authority and most respected member during the time of the resurgence. Along with Lady Rhea, he handpicked the first strike team sent to retrieve Ship and kill Skywalker. Throughout the battles with the Jedi, Vol remained on Kesh to oversee the Tribe's activities at home. When Abeloth was brought back to Kesh with the proposal of an alliance, he remained very wary of her; and his fears were soon confirmed when she attacked him and laid waste to the city. Later, when the Sith stood poised to execute their coup of the government, he finally traveled to Coruscant. However, upon his arrival, Vol went to assassinate Rokari Kem, a Senator who High Lord Workan believed knew of the Sith plan. Kem was actually Abeloth in disguise, and she killed and beheaded Vol.

Ivaar Workan
"From all that we have heard, she is unpredictable and dangerous. Only a fool rides the uvak he cannot control. I've no desire to continue to sacrifice Sith Sabers and Lords on the altar of aiding Abeloth and furthering her agenda&mdash;whatever it might be."

- Ivaar Workan, on Abeloth

Ivaar Workan was a Human male who had risen to the rank of Lord by 41 ABY. He was one of the Sith selected to participate in the Tribe's first mission offworld, under the command of High Lord Sarasu Taalon. Later on during the resurgence, he remained on Kesh, where he became one of the few beings whom Darish Vol trusted not to betray him, and by 44 ABY he achieved the rank of High Lord. Toward the final stages of the Sith's plans, Workan traveled to Coruscant, where he infiltrated the Senate as one "Kameron Suldar" from the planet B'nish. During his time on Coruscant, he uncovered a conspiracy plotting to take over the Galactic Alliance and helped to eliminate it. He worked to pave the way for the Sith invasion, although his encounter with Rokari Kem made him uneasy. Indeed, his fears were confirmed when she killed Vol, and he learned she was actually Abeloth in disguise. Workan was then forced to assist her in her rise to the position of Chief of State. Soon afterward, when the Jedi launched their mission to liberate Coruscant, Workan was a target assigned to Vestara Khai, Ben Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Jedi Knights Doran Sarkin-Tainer and Seha Dorvald. The five engaged in combat with Workan and three Sith guards in his Senate office, and Ben killed the High Lord with a blaster shot in the face.

Sarasu Taalon
"When our work together is done, I'm very much looking forward to killing you."

- Sarasu Taalon, to Luke Skywalker

Sarasu Taalon was a male Keshiri who rose to the rank of High Lord and was active throughout much of the Tribe's resurgence. He led the Sith on their first mission offworld with Ship, and by 44 ABY had come into command of no fewer than eleven ChaseMaster frigates in the Sith's armada. He convinced the Skywalkers to ally with the Sith and proceeded to command the Sith forces during their joint mission to confront Abeloth. After that mission's failure, he remained onworld to learn more about Abeloth, and it was during the altercation in the Pool of Knowledge that he learned of the existence of a Jedi queen who could prevent the Sith's rise to power. Too, he dove into the Pool itself, and he began to undergo transformations into the same kind of being as Abeloth. He subsequently led Sith troops to Pydyr after learning of Abeloth's presence there, and again forced the Skywalkers to help him find Abeloth. However, upon confronting Abeloth, he showed a yearning to know more about what he was becoming as opposed to his supposed desire to kill her. Vestara Khai made use of a distraction to kill Taalon, as she believed she could not let another being like Abeloth come into existence.

Gavar Khai
"You have selected only the strongest and most powerful Sith for this mission. No one will fail you."

- Gavar Khai, to Sarasu Taalon

Gavar Khai was a Human male who became a Sith Saber in the Tribe and rose to a level of prominence in the Sith forces during the resurgence. He first served under Sarasu Taalon during their allied mission with the Jedi to confront Abeloth. Khai recognized his daughter's growing care for the younger Skywalker, and rather than discouraging it, he suggested that she use it to try and turn him to the dark side. During the Sith's betrayal of the Jedi, it was he who opened the attack upon Luke Skywalker, although the younger Skywalker soon intervened and held the Sith Saber off. Afterward, when they found that Abeloth had survived, Saber Khai suspected the Jedi of treachery on numerous accounts. He lost his forearm in the duel at the Pool of Knowledge, although he was eventually fitted with a prosthetic.

He again accompanied Taalon on the Sith mission to Pydyr, where he was the first Sith to hear that his daughter killed Taalon. He remained unsure of his daughter's loyalties after that instance, although she messaged him to inform him of Abeloth's location on Nam Chorios. Saber Khai personally developed the Jedi Queen project, and he also led Operation Shieldfall&mdash;although both ventures ultimately ended in failure. Following Abeloth's destruction of Tahv, her influence on Khai finally won over, and he decided to defect from the Tribe. He was soon afterward killed in a duel by his own daughter.

Vestara Khai
"We're on opposite sides of this thing, and maybe that makes us enemies. But we don't have to hate each other&mdash;that's a choice we make ourselves."

- Vestara Khai, to Ben Skywalker

The Human female Vestara Khai, at the time a Sith Tyro, was the first being on Kesh whom Ship contacted due to her ambition and aptitude. As such, she was honored by the Tribe and made the apprentice of Olaris Rhea. She was allowed to travel with Ship on the Sith's first mission in the resurgence, and she spent the next two years in the growing Sith armada. She was chosen for the strike team's mission to recover Ship and kill the Skywalkers, and she was the sole survivor of the skirmish with the Jedi. Afterward, the young Khai used her skills and wits to survive and avoid capture by the Jedi with the Witches of Dathomir. However, when the Jedi allied with the Sith, she was kept aboard the Jade Shadow for the mission, and over time she began to develop a relationship with Ben Skywalker.

Her subsequent objective to spy on the Jedi following the duel at the Pool of Knowledge resulted in further travels with the Jedi, and when she killed Taalon she was forced to flee with the Skywalkers, knowing that her fellow Sith would not give her time to explain her actions. Though Vestara Khai still tried to assist her Tribe toward its ultimate goal in every way that she could, she was forced with increasing frequency into situations wherein she found herself helping the Skywalkers. Finally, following the deaths of her parents, she decided to officially rescind her Sith ways and learn the ways of the Jedi. Nevertheless, after a mission in which she decided to kill another Jedi in order to ensure the safety of Ben Skywalker, she came to feel that she could never truly be a Jedi. Vestara Khai thus decided to assist the Jedi against her Tribe in order to assure the deaths of all of the High Lords&mdash;who were duty-bound to kill her, since she had killed Taalon&mdash;before leaving the protection of the Order. She took part in the liberation of Coruscant, and assisted the Jedi in killing High lord Ivaar Workan.

Luke Skywalker
"There are few enmities more ancient than that of Sith and Jedi."

- Luke Skywalker

The Human male Luke Skywalker fought with the Rebel Alliance and New Republic against the Galactic Empire. He rebuilt the Jedi Order and led it through numerous crises, including the Yuuzhan Vong War and the Second Galactic Civil War, but in 43.5 ABY he was exiled from Coruscant for failing to prevent Jacen Solo's fall to the dark side. Accompanied by his son, Ben, the exiled Grand Master embarked on a quest to discover why Jacen Solo had fallen to the dark side. It was during their travels that the Skywalkers first encountered the Sith Tribe; they were initially uncertain of the identities of the darksiders, but quickly discovered that they were in fact Sith. When Taalon proposed an alliance, Skywalker realized he had no option but to grudgingly accept, despite the knowledge that it was only a matter of time before the Sith betrayed him.

The confrontations with Abeloth became more personal for the elder Skywalker when he discovered that she had consumed his former lover, Callista Ming, although he eventually freed Ming's spirit from Abeloth on Nam Chorios. The Grand Master received numerous grievous injuries during his battles with Abeloth and the Sith,  but he refused to take much time to heal, as he feared giving his enemies enough time to recuperate. Finally, following Daala's removal from office, the Skywalker's exile was lifted and he was allowed to return to Coruscant and resume command over the Jedi. He lured the Sith to gather on Coruscant by pretending to move the entire Order to another location, but the Jedi's subsequent mission to eliminate Ship and Abeloth was unsuccessful; and while they were gone from Coruscant, Abeloth became Chief of State. The Grand Master then spearheaded the Jedi's mission to liberate Coruscant.

Ben Skywalker
"I'm going with you."

- Ben Skywalker, after his father's exile

The son of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Ben Skywalker was born during the Yuuzhan Vong War and took part in the Second Galactic Civil War, during which his Master, Jacen Solo, turned to the dark side and killed the young Skywalker's mother. Ben Skywalker helped the Jedi Coalition win the war, and when his father was put on trial and exiled, the young Jedi Knight insisted that he accompany the Grand Master on his travels. The younger Skywalker proved himself an asset to his father on numerous occasions, and helped the elder Skywalker defeat about fifteen Sith on Sinkhole Station.

After cornering Vestara Khai on Dathomir but being unable to take her into custody, the young Skywalker developed an attraction to her, which she reciprocated. Over the course of his travels with his father, Ben Skywalker's skills grew increasingly prominent, to the point that he was able to singlehandedly duel and defeat three Sith Sabers. During the allied mission with the Sith to confront Abeloth in the Maw, his relationship with the young Khai strengthened, and despite her numerous attempts to undermine the Jedi, Ben Skywalker grew more and more convinced that he could turn her to the light side. Throughout their travels with the Sith apprentice, the young Skywalker served as the primary advocate for his father to trust her to do the right thing. Finally, after she was forced to kill her father in combat, Ben Skywalker comforted the young Khai; and when she asked him if he thought she could turn her back on the dark side, he promised to help her become a Jedi. The young Jedi Knight, alongside Vestara Khai, assisted in the liberation of Coruscant; Ben Skywalker himself killed High Lord Ivaar Workan early in the campaign.

Jaina Solo
"If we can find Ship, then we'll find Abeloth. And if he's managed to escape her somehow, then he'll have sought out the Lost Tribe. We could find one or both of our targets by shifting the direction of our search to finding him instead of chasing them."

- Jaina Solo

Jaina Solo, daughter of Leia Organa Solo and Captain Han Solo, rose to the rank of Jedi Knight during the Yuuzhan Vong War, when she was also proclaimed by her uncle Luke Skywalker to be the Sword of the Jedi. During the Second Galactic Civil War, she was forced to kill her brother, Jacen Solo, after he turned to the dark side. During the time of the resurgence, she found herself in a complicated relationship with Imperial Remnant Head of State Jagged Fel, made difficult due to their conflicting duties. After temporarily beaking off their engagement, Jaina Solo left the political tension on Coruscant between Daala and the Jedi Order in order to help the Skywalkers in their dealings with the Sith. She tracked them to Klatooine, where she met up with Lando Calrissian and eventually joined the allied Sith and Jedi fleet. While the Skywalkers and the Sith battled Abeloth, Solo piloted her StealthX in combat with Ship.

She later fought off an ambush by Sith pirates and returned to Coruscant to inform the Order of the true extent of the threat. Later, when the Sith commenced Operation Shieldfall, Jaina Solo led Gray Squadron in the ambush of the Sith forces. After Vestara Khai and the Skywalkers escaped from the Sith on the surface, Luke Skywalker joined Solo in Gray Squadron in pursuit of Ship and Abeloth. Though Ship was damaged, the Meditation Sphere managed to escape with Abeloth intact. Solo went on to join the Skywalkers and Khai aboard the Jade Shadow in their ensuing search for Ship on various Sith worlds. Solo later was part of the Jedi strike team sent to liberate Coruscant. Later, during the first assault on the Jedi Temple, Luke Skywalker promoted Solo to the rank of Jedi Master.

Behind the scenes
The Lost Tribe of Sith and its plans to conquer the galaxy first appeared in Christie Golden's Omen, the second novel of the nine-part Fate of the Jedi series, co-authored by Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. The Tribe has since appeared in each subsequent novel in the series, as well as "First Blood," a short story by Golden. The backstory of the Lost Tribe was further detailed in John Jackson Miller's Lost Tribe of the Sith eBook series, as well as briefly in Paul S. Kemp's Crosscurrent.

Appearances

 * Omen
 * Abyss
 * Backlash
 * Allies
 * Vortex
 * Conviction
 * Ascension
 * Apocalypse
 * Apocalypse