Imprint

"Don't get too excited, Vestara. There are never enough uvaks to meet the demand.''" "''I know. But I will come home with one."

- Gavar and Vestara Khai, prior to the uvak competition

Imprint is a seven-page short story written by Christie Golden set a few years before, and tying into, the Fate of the Jedi series. The story, for which the cover was drawn by Ian Keltie, was included in the 2009 Star Wars Hyperspace membership kit. Imprint details how Sith Tyro Vestara Khai obtains Tikk, the uvak she uses for transportation in the second novel of the Fate of the Jedi series, Omen.

Publisher's summary
OMEN author Christie Golden wrote a short story that takes place before the events of the Fate of the Jedi'' series and features a lost tribe of Sith. This 7-page short story is an exclusive for Hyperspace members!''

Plot summary
In 37.5 ABY, ten-year-old Sith Tyro Vestara Khai and her father, Sith Saber Gavar Khai, attend Presentation, a festival in Tahv, the capital city of the planet Kesh. One of the events is a competition among the children of the Lost Tribe of Sith, which was stranded on the planet five thousand years earlier, to own a baby uvak&mdash;a winged reptilian creature that, once grown, could be used for transportation. Vestara, who is at Presentation specifically for this, takes a seat in the pen where the competition will be held and waits. When the event starts about fifteen minutes later, an incubation droid rolls into the ring, deposits twelve uvak eggs in the center, and then exits the competition area.

The children, including Vestara, immediately begin attempting to force their will on the about-to-hatch uvaks through the dark side of the Force, the goal being to cause the uvak to "imprint" upon the competitor, thus claiming the uvak for their own. Vestara selects one of the eggs and focuses on it as the uvak inside emerges, quickly naming it Tikk due to the clicking sound it makes with its beak. However, another youth, the Keshiri Ahri Raas, picks the same uvak, and Vestara mentally battles with him over it. Raas begins to inflict pain on Tikk through the Force, and Vestara, angry at this, looks at Raas, imploring him to stop hurting the baby uvak. Startled, the Keshiri boy loses control of Tikk, who imprints upon Vestara. She gathers Tikk into her arms, and the hungry uvak nibbles her ear. Gavar, looking on from the spectator area, applauds his daughter's success.

Development
Imprint is a tie-in to the Fate of the Jedi novel series in the form of a seven-page short story. The story, placed four years before the events on Kesh shown in Omen&mdash;the second Fate of the Jedi novel&mdash;shows how Vestara Khai obtains the uvak that she is seen with in that novel.

The story was released exclusively as part of the 2009 Star Wars Hyperspace fan club membership kit, which began shipping to members on July 17, 2009. It was written by Christie Golden&mdash;the author of Omen&mdash;and the cover, which features an image of Vestara Khai, was illustrated by Ian Keltie. The booklet also contained a Hyperspace welcome letter from Lucas Licensing Ltd. Executive Editor Sue Rostoni, as well as a welcome letter from Bantha Tracks editor Mary Franklin.

Vestara Khai


Sith Tyro Vestara Khai was first introduced in Golden's Omen and is a major character in the Fate of the Jedi series. Imprint expanded on her backstory by showing from where Tikk, the uvak that she owns in Omen, came.

Ten-year-old Vestara Khai arrives at Presentation with her father, Gavar. Upon entering the competition ring, she waits for the contest to start and then begins to impose her will on a still-hatching uvak, whom she names Tikk. Initially, her efforts show promise, but Raas soon captures Tikk's attention and begins hurting the uvak with the Force. Vestara mentally implores him to stop, and Raas's concentration is broken enough that Vestara is able to claim Tikk as her own, as the baby uvak imprints upon her.

Ahri Raas
Another Sith Tyro, the Keshiri Ahri Raas, was featured in Omen and the following novel, Abyss. Though he is Vestara's best friend in those two novels, the two encounter each other for the first time in Imprint.

At the uvak competition, Raas picks out an uvak that has just hatched and begins to force his will on it, inflicting pain with the Force. He is startled, however, when Vestara looks at him with a clear expression of outrage over his action. Raas loses his concentration long enough that the uvak imprints on Vestara.