Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/June 23, 2011

Astraal Vao was a Rutian Twi'lek female who was born before 126 ABY. When she was a young child, she and her twin brother, Shado, were traveling in their parents' starship when it crashed onto the surface of the planet Vendaxa. Both of her parents were killed, and Vao and her brother were discovered and taken in by the humanitarian Imperial Mission. The Jedi Master Wolf Sazen found them years later and realized that they were both Force-sensitive; Shado joined the Jedi Order, but Astraal Vao felt that her destiny lay with the Mission. She became an Imperial Missionary and dedicated her life to helping others.

When the Empire that the Mission served was seized by the One Sith, Emperor Roan Fel and his daughter, the Princess Marasiah, went into hiding. The young Fel began to infiltrate Imperial systems to ascertain who in the Empire was still loyal to her father, and Vao grew close to the Princess during this time. She defied the new Empire by protecting Fel from Imperial agents who sought to capture her. In 137 ABY, the two were chased from the Imperial Mission temple on Socorro by the Sith Hand Darth Talon and secured passage offworld on the Mynock, a ship belonging to the bounty hunter Cade Skywalker. Vao arranged to rendezvous with her brother on Vendaxa, but Talon followed them and attacked. Shado and Sazen joined forces with Fel and the Mynock crew to subdue her, but sabotage she had committed on the ship left them temporarily grounded.

Vao attempted to procure aid from Konrad Rus, the Imperial Mission's leader, but reinforcements came from another source, as the Fel-loyal Imperial Knights Antares Draco and Ganner Krieg arrived just before a legion of Sith. The ensuing battle saw the Princess mortally wounded, and Vao tended to her friend aboard the Mynock. When they were able to evacuate the planet, rising tensions between Skywalker, the Imperial Knights, and the Jedi nearly led to a brawl. Vao calmed the situation down and convinced Draco to allow Skywalker to heal the Princess. They arrived at Emperor Fel's fortress world of Bastion soon after, and Vao tried to persuade her brother to remain with the Empire-in-exile. Shado declined, however, and departed the planet.