Vestara Khai

"I never had to lay a hand on you for punishment, child. You have always excelled. You are driven by the dark side to achieve&hellip;to rise."

- Gavar Khai, to his daughter

Vestara Khai, nicknamed Ves, was a Human female born to Sith Saber Gavar Khai and his wife, Lahka, on the planet Kesh. She was apprenticed to Lady Olaris Rhea after coming into contact with the Sith Meditation Sphere Ship in 41 ABY. After enlisting in the Tribe's new armada, she was selected for the strike team sent in 43.5 ABY to hunt down Ship&mdash;who had left following a call in the Force from the dark side entity Abeloth&mdash;and kill Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker. After recovering Ship on Abeloth's planet, the team ambushed Skywalker and his son, Ben, at a space station in the Maw. During the battle, Khai was betrayed by her friend and his Master when they attempted a coup to take over command of the strike team. Although she survived the betrayal, the Jedi defeated the entire strike team, and Luke killed Rhea. Outmatched, Khai fled to the planet Dathomir in a yacht.

There, she met up with the dark side Nightsisters and placed a hypercomm call to her Tribe for help. Meanwhile, the Jedi tracked her to Dathomir, where they found her in the care of a Clan of Dathomiri Witches. The Witches forbade the Jedi from doing her harm, and she and the Jedi subsequently assisted the Clan in its dealings with Nightsister attacks while it was holding a conclave with an all-male Clan. With the help of Khai and the Jedi, the two Clans successfully merged and warded off one final Nightsister attack. Soon afterward, Sith reinforcements arrived and captured a group of Nightsisters before being confronted by the Skywalkers, who forced the Sith to flee and captured Khai. After taking her into orbit, however, they were confronted by a large fleet under the command of Sith High Lord Sarasu Taalon, who proposed an alliance to defeat Abeloth.

The Jedi accepted, and the allied fleet traveled to the planet Klatooine to await the arrival of businessman Lando Calrissian, who was to assist them in navigating the Maw. There, Khai and Ben helped capture the Force-sensitive Dyon Stadd when he fell prey to Abeloth's influence. The allies eventually left for the Maw, where they found that Sinkhole Station had been destroyed. They then traveled to Abeloth's world, where Khai placed a homing beacon on Stadd and let him go so that they could follow him to Abeloth. The plan worked, and the Sith and Jedi allies battled her. Khai was severely injured by Abeloth, and the Sith Tribe betrayed the Jedi, attacking Luke and trying to capture Abeloth for their own use. Luke defeated Abeloth nevertheless, and the Sith and Jedi repaired their alliance so that Taalon, Khai, Khai's father, and the Skywalkers could remain behind in order to investigate more into Abeloth.

They soon discovered that Abeloth had not died; and during the ensuing search for her, the tenuous alliance broke into violence. The Jedi fled, and the Sith sent Khai to join the Jedi and spy on them. She helped the Jedi steal Taalon's shuttle, and they tracked Abeloth to the moon Pydyr. There, Khai sent a message to a Sith relay station, informing her Tribe of their whereabouts. The Sith, including Taalon and Khai's father, arrived soon after, and Taalon agreed to help the Jedi kill Abeloth. They traveled to a village housing the Force-sensitive Fallanassi, whom they suspected were hiding Abeloth. They discovered her among the Fallanassi, but Taalon opened battle on the Jedi. The Sith and Abeloth incapacitated the Jedi, but Khai killed Taalon when she realized he was becoming a being like Abeloth. She and the Jedi then forced Abeloth to retreat, but when the other Sith discovered that Khai had killed Taalon, she was forced to flee with the Jedi, who continued to track Abeloth.

Early life
"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, upon the hour of Vestara Khai's apprenticeship

The Human female Vestara Khai was a Force-sensitive born around 27.5 ABY to the Sith Saber Gavar Khai and his non-Force-sensitive wife, Lahka Khai. Raised on the remote world Kesh, home to the 5,000-years-isolated Lost Tribe of Sith. In 37.5 ABY, ten-year-old Khai, now a Sith Tyro, participated in a competition to obtain an uvak. She was successful in that endeavor and named her uvak Tikk. After the competition, she became good friends with the Keshiri Sith Tyro Ahri Raas. The two often trained together, honing their combat techniques in hopes of being chosen as apprentices.

In 41 ABY, Khai was sparring with Raas when she sensed the approach of the Sith Meditation Sphere Ship. Ship sensed Khai's desire to become a Sith Master and offered to teach her. Since Khai's was the first mind that Ship touched when it came to Kesh, she was summoned before the Circle of Lords, the ruling Sith council. Khai was then apprenticed to Lady Olaris Rhea; and she began her training in the Sith Temple. Ship informed the Tribe of the happenings in the galaxy since the ancestors of the Tribe crash-landed on the world 5,000 years previously, revealing that the Sith been nearly exterminated and that the Jedi had grown numerous.

Ship soon thereafter discovered a Damorian s18 light freighter en route from the planet Eriadu, and called for five Sith to help attack the vessel. Khai and Rhea were selected, along with fellow Sith Sarasu Taalon, Ivaar Workan, and Ruku Myal. Ship carried them offworld and attacked the freighter, which was unable to escape into hyperspace. They forced it to land and then embarked on a hunt of the surviving crew, splitting into two teams for the search&mdash;Khai, Myal, and Workan in one, and Rhea and Taalon in the other. Khai's team killed two of the crew, and Taalon and Rhea cornered the remaining four. Before long, Taalon ordered Khai back to the freighter to take inventory. On her way back, Khai, disappointed at being denied the chance for a kill, encountered a girl who had been a passenger on the feighter. She told the Sith apprentice that she had just escaped slavery, and although the girl begged for her life, Khai killed her with her parang. Ship then told Khai to name the girl, and Khai named her "First," since the girl had been her first kill.

Under Ship's guidance, Khai and other Sith began traveling in the Meditation Sphere beyond Kesh, battling other ships. They used the parts from the vessels they defeated to rebuild the Omen, the ship in which the Tribe's ancestors had arrived on Kesh. The Tribe then began to capture starships in order to form a new Sith armada. During this time, one of the first battleships to be captured was renamed the Eternal Crusader and put under the command of Lady Rhea; and Khai served on the vessel under her Master. During their travels abroad in the galaxy, Khai went from being an innocent being who never even inflicted a serious injury on anyone to a skilled killer.

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 Rhea

In that year, the exiled Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker came into contact with the Codex, an Aing-Tii relic that magnified his presence in the Force, causing his power to be felt by the members of the Sith Tribe. The Sith decided that they needed to kill him in order to pave the way to reinstate the Sith Empire as the ruling power in the galaxy. Rhea and the Tribe's Grand Lord Darish Vol handpicked a strike team to be sent under Rhea's command to find and kill Skywalker, and Khai was among those chosen. Suddenly, however, the dark side entity Abeloth sent out a call through the Force that took control of Ship, causing the Meditation Sphere to desert the Sith Tribe. The strike team was then given the priority of first tracking down and recovering Ship, before continuing on to find and kill Skywalker.

Also chosen to be on the strike team was Raas and his Master, Yuvar Xal. The team left Kesh aboard the Eternal Crusader, and using her connection to Ship, Khai led the team to a planet in the Maw. Some members of the team worried that they were being led into a trap, as the Meditation Sphere was making sure that the Sith managed to follow it; but the Sith continued on their mission anyway. Upon arrival on the planet, the Eternal Crusader remained in orbit while a search party, including Khai and Rhea was sent planetside to find Ship. There, the Sith found that the world was home to several deadly forms of plant-life, losing several members of the team to the carnivorous flora. Eventually, the Sith encountered a beautiful, powerful being named Abeloth, who was able to control all of the life on the world. Abeloth pretended to help the Sith in their search for Ship and agreed to return to Kesh with the strike team, while in reality she was using her influence over the Meditation Sphere to keep it away from them.

Calamity at Sinkhole Station
"If Ship can take all of us in one trip, the Skywalkers must be very near. And they had to come in something. Once Ship takes us to them&mdash;''" "Absolutely. We kill the Skywalkers and&hellip;" "''&hellip;we steal their vessel. How hard can it be?"

- Khai and Rhea, discussing their upcoming mission

As the Eternal Crusader supplies were depleted, Rhea finally decided that they should leave, as she believed that returning with Abeloth would more than make up for losing Ship. Abeloth finally let Khai catch a glimpse of Ship, and the Sith chased after the vessel. As they were crossing a river, however, Rhea was dragged by a siphon reed into a whirlpool. Despite Abeloth's warning, Khai jumped into the water and followed Rhea in an attempt to save her Master. As Khai caught up with the Sith Lady beneath the water, she used her lightsaber to cut open the reed and free Rhea. Rhea used the Force to pull them back to the surface, and they were caught and drawn back to the shore by Raas. Afterward, while Abeloth still appeared as a beautiful woman to the other members of the strike team, Khai perceived Abeloth's less attractive true form. Her attempts at convincing her fellow Sith of Abeloth's true nature failed, and the strike team remained on the world as more and more members were killed. Shuttles of reinforcements kept coming down from the Eternal Crusader to replace those killed until, finally, there were no more Sith aboard the vessel. Ship remained hidden from the Sith, and Xal prepared to initiate a coup against Rhea.

Before Xal's plans could be carried out, however, Abeloth discovered that Skywalker and his son, Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker, were at Sinkhole Station, a space station in the Maw. She finally allowed Ship to return to the Sith, convincing them that they should capture the Jedi and return with them to Kesh, rather than killing them as had been originally planned. The approximately fifteen surviving members of the strike team, including Khai, traveled to Sinkhole Station aboard Ship and prepared an ambush for the Jedi. Khai laid in wait with Xal, Raas, and the Sith Saber Baad Walusari in a junction that the Skywalkers would have to pass in order to reach their vessel, the Jade Shadow, in the space station's hangar. As the Skywalkers passed the junction, Khai and Walusari launched a set of grenades at the Jedi. Xal had planned with his apprentice to execute his betrayal at this moment; he and Raas Force-pushed the grenades back at Walusari and Khai before turning to attack the Jedi themselves. Rhea had foreseen the betrayal, however, and had given Khai and Walusari fake grenades to throw first. Upset at Raas' betrayal of her, Khai threw her shikkar at Xal, killing her friend's Master. Raas was distracted by Xal's cry of pain and killed by the Jedi. Walusari then tried to throw fragmentation grenades at the Skywalkers, but they sent the grenades back at him, killing him.

Khai managed to cut Luke on the cheek nose with her parang, but, unbeknownst to her, the Jedi had allowed her to do this so that he could establish a blood trail on her that would allow him to track her wherever she went. The Grand Master then knocked her out with a blow to the face, bound her, and took her captive as he and Ben continued to head for their ship. As the Skywalkers continued their flight, however, they were attacked by more of the Sith, and Khai regained consciousness and joined the assault. Ben fired on her with his blaster as she fled down a hall, but Luke told his son to let her escape. Khai eventually located her Master, joining Rhea and two other Sith&mdash;the only remaining survivors of the strike team. As Ben prepped the Jade Shadow for flight, Skywalker returned to the station inside a lift, and as the doors opened he was confronted by the four Sith. He killed two of them quickly, leaving just Khai and Rhea. They dueled with the Grand Master inside the lift as it headed back for the hangar, scoring hits on his vac suit. However, he deflected a blaster shot into Khai's boot and began dueling with Rhea one-on-one, using the Force to hold Khai in place. As the lift doors opened behind Luke, Ben opened fire from the Jade Shadow, distracting Rhea and allowing Luke to kill her. Khai took the time to put some distance between herself in the Jedi, realizing that, without her Master, she was completely outmatched. She saluted Luke and then fled in a SoroSuub StarTripper yacht, She's a Chancer.

Dathomir
"I will only lie. That or tell the truth."

- Vestara Khai to Ben Skywalker

Khai feared that the Jedi would attempt to locate her Sith Tribe by following her, so she sought to hide her presence on a world with a large concentration of Force-sensitives, from where she could send a secure message back to Kesh and warn her Tribe. The planet she ultimately chose was Dathomir, a world rich with the dark side. Upon landing there, she sent a hypercomm message to her Tribe and made a deal with a group of Nightsisters&mdash;darksiders who lived on Dathomir&mdash;to exchange information and Force techniques with her Tribe.

Khai was then found by the Raining Leaves Clan, a Clan of Dathomiri Witches, who decided to hold her under their protection. Meanwhile, the Skywalkers arrived and found the Raining Leaves Clan, which was about to begin a conclave with the Broken Columns Clan in order to merge the two Clans into one. The Skywalkers confronted Khai, but the Raining Leaves Clan forced them to back off, as they had adopted Vestara into their tribe. As the conclave began, the Nightsisters began to disrupt the proceedings, as they did not want the Clans to merge. The Nightsisters attacked the two tribes with rancors and their dark powers multiple times during the conclave. In one of the battles, Khai stole Ben Skywalker's lightsaber and used it to save Luke Skywalker's life from some attacking Nightsisters. Ben thanked Khai for this act, but he remained suspicious of her.

Eventually, the two Clans succeeded in merging into Bright Sun Clan, but that evening they were beset by the largest Nightsister attack yet. On the newly christened Bright Sun Hill, the Clan managed to defeat the Nightsisters one final time. Later, Khai gathered the surviving Nightsisters in a landing meadow to meet with members of her Tribe&mdash;who had just arrive in-system&mdash;but the Nightsisters, commanded by Dresdema, were furious to find that the Tribe also consisted of males, and attacked the Sith. The Sith, led by Viun Gaalan, easily defeated the Nightsisters, capturing them and taking them back to the fleet in orbit.

Khai spoke with Gaalan, who praised her for her efforts, and then went to retrieve one last Nightsister&mdash;Halliava Vurse, who had been undercover as a member of the Raining Leaves Clan. However, while she was doing so, the Skywalkers and their Force-sensitive friend Dyon Stadd, who had noticed her missing and tracked her to the landing meadow, confronted Gaalan and the other Sith who had remained behind to await Khai. The Jedi defeated the Sith, and Gaalan fled in his shuttle just as Khai returned with Vurse. The Skywalkers then took Khai captive, exposing her treachery&mdash;as well as Vurse's betrayal&mdash;to the Bright Sun Clan. The Clan then exiled her from their midst, allowing the Jedi to keep her in their custody. They returned to the Jade Shadow in the Dathomir Spaceport and took Khai aboard their ship, planning to chase after the other Sith. However, as they reached orbit they were confronted by eleven ChaseMaster frigates under the command of the Sith High Lord Sarasu Taalon, who ordered them to enter a parking orbit.

Klatooine
"You are attracted to the Skywalker boy."

- Gavar to Vestara regarding Ben Skywalker

Taalon told the Jedi that Abeloth had been causing a psychosis amongst the Tribe's apprentices just as she had been doing to many of the Jedi Order's Jedi Knights. Taalon went on to propose an alliance with the Jedi to defeat Abeloth, since she was a common enemy. Luke was dubious at first, but eventually agreed, under the provision that Khai would remain aboard the Jade Shadow. The Jedi vessel was then contacted by Khai's father, Gavar, who had accompanied Taalon on the mission, and the Skywalkers agreed to allow him to come on board and speak privately with Vestara.

The two Sith knew that the Jedi would record their conversation&mdash;which indeed Luke did&mdash;and so spoke in the Keshiri language. Gavar reassured Vestara that her mother was still doing well, and gave his daughter a shikkar in the hopes that one day she could kill one of the Skywalkers. In turn, she presented him with a layout of the Jade Shadow. He also revealed to her that the Sith alliance was a sham&mdash;the Tribe's apprentices had not fallen under Abeloth's influence at all&mdash;although he neglected to tell her the true objective of the Sith mission. He also spoke with her about her attraction to Ben, suggesting that she use it to glean information from him and potentially turn him to the dark side.

Luke and Taalon decided to meet up with Luke's friend, Lando Calrissian, who could provide the Rockhound, a Colossus I Beta Series asteroid tug, for use in navigating the Maw. They decided to wait for Calrissian at the planet Klatooine in the Si'Klaata Cluster. There, Luke allowed Ben and Vestara to travel to the planet's surface with Stadd in order to restock the Jade Shadow supplies. Having lived a sheltered life, she was awed by the diversity of activity on the planet and continued her flirtatious behavior with Ben, which he reciprocated. She also attempted to avoid any conflicts of ideologies so as not to upset him. They were interrupted, however, when Stadd suddenly fell prey to Abeloth's influence, causing him to believe that everyone had been replaced by impostors. He fled the market, heading for the Fountain of the Ancients in the Derelkoos Desert; a sacred wintrium Fountain around which was a one-kilometer zone wherein no technology was allowed. Vestara and Ben pursued Stadd, and she assisted him capturing the Force-sensitive, taking care to prevent the psychotic man from dying.

Vestara, Ben, and Stadd were then taken captive by Klatooinian guards, although the Sith and Jedi were only held due to being underage. They were taken to the Treema Courthouse and Detention Area, where they passed the time waiting for the arrival of their fathers by telling jokes. When Luke and Gavar arrived, Gavar angrily scolded Vestara about how she had helped Ben, but she replied that she had done it only to cement the young Jedi's trust in her. The Skywalkers returned to the Jade Shadow with Stadd, whom the Klatooinians had gladly turned over, realizing that they would be unable to hold the psychotic Force-sensitive for long. Meanwhile, Luke had sent a recording of Vestara's conversation with her father during their meeting aboard the Jade Shadow to the protocol droid C-3PO for translation. Although the droid was unfamiliar with the language, he was able to give Luke a rough translation to Basic. Luke showed the transcript of the translated conversation to his son, who was deeply upset that the Sith were planning to betray the Jedi and that she hoped to turn him personally to the dark side. Ben began acting coldly toward her, and she was upset by his sudden change of attitude, unaware of what caused it.

Into the Maw
"Just find us somewhere safe to land.''" "''That's a relative term here."

- Ben Skywalker and Vestara Khai, upon their arrival at Abeloth's planet

Luke and Taalon agreed that they no longer wanted to stay on Klatooine, so the allied fleet left the planet, waiting for Calrissian just outside the Maw. Calrissian finally arrived along with Jedi Knight Jaina Solo, who had come in hopes of assisting the Skywalkers in the dealing with the Sith. The fleet entered the Maw, heading for Sinkhole Station, where Luke hoped to find information that could prove useful for their mission. Upon their arrival, however, they found that the space station had been completely destroyed. Two Sith frigates moved into the debris field, and the Rockhound attempted to stop them with its tractor beams. It managed to save one of the frigates, but the other collided with debris and exploded. Vestara and the Skywalkers deduced that Sinkhole Station had been built to contain Abeloth, but she had become powerful enough to break free and destroy the space station. The fleet then agreed to head straight to Abeloth's planet.

When they arrived at Abeloth's planet, Vestara sensed Ship and could tell that he was unhappy serving Abeloth. She also learned that Ben had previously piloted Ship for a short time. Concerned that Abeloth might try to free Stadd now that they were so close to her, the Skywalkers sent Vestara to check on the young man. She decided to use Stadd to find Abeloth by tricking him, but she neglected to tell the Jedi of her plan, fearing that they would not trust her. Vestara lied to Stadd that she was an impostor, telling him that she&mdash;along with all of the other impostors who had chosen to replace Sith&mdash;were associated with Ship, who was serving Abeloth; thus the impostors of the Sith were on his side. She asked if he would lead them to Abeloth, and he replied that he would. Then, rather than giving him more of his sedative as the Skywalkers had asked her, Vestara gave him the antidote and scrambled the machine that was monitoring him. She requested that he pretend to be unconscious if the Skywalkers came in to check on him, telling him that she would return to unlock his stun cuffs.

After landing on the planet, Vestara and the Skywalkers met with Taalon, Gavar, and Captain Leeha Faal. Luke suggested that they travel in the realm of the Force called beyond shadows&mdash;something he had learned to do from the Mind Walkers who had lived at Sinkhole Station&mdash;in an attempt to find Abeloth, since he had first seen her while Mind Walking. Vestara was strongly opposed to the idea and attempted to talk her fellow Sith out of it&mdash;having seen the Mind Walkers at Sinkhole Station, she knew that Mind Walking was very dangerous and could severely weaken any who attempted it, as well as lead to their deaths. The other Sith agreed with Luke, however, and upon her return to the Jade Shadow, she spoke with Stadd once more, telling him that he should escape while Luke and the Sith were beyond shadows.

Vestara was left with Ben on the Jade Shadow to monitor Luke's physical body while he, Gavar, Taalon, and Faal attempted to find Abeloth beyond shadows. While Ben monitored his father, Stadd suddenly broke free from his room and charged for the exit of the ship. Ben called for Vestara to stop him, but instead she stepped aside and let Stadd pass. Suddenly, Luke returned from beyond shadows&mdash;Faal had been killed and he had discovered that the presence that had been comforting him the entire mission, which he had assumed to be his deceased wife, was actually Abeloth. Ben revealed to him what Vestara had done and the two Jedi confronted her. However, she replied that she had placed a tracking device on Stadd and let him go free so that they could follow him to Abeloth. Vestara and the Jedi met up with Taalon, Gavar, and nineteen other Sith to track Stadd.

They found Stadd in a cave on the side of a volcano&mdash;the same cave where Vestara and her strike team had originally met Abeloth. There, they found Stadd on the ground, barely alive, and no longer possessed by the psychosis. He revealed that Abeloth had attempted to consume his life force but had left him for dead when she sensed the allies' approach, and added that while he still felt her influence on his mind, he realized now that it was not the truth. Stadd was left at the cave entrance along with two Sith while Vestara, the Jedi, and the rest of the Sith traveled deeper down a tunnel in the back of the cave to hunt down Abeloth. Eventually, they reached a courtyard at the end of the tunnel. There, Luke called out to Abeloth, who suddenly appeared behind him.

Confronting Abeloth
"Don't leave me&hellip;p-poison&hellip;"

- Vestara Khai tries to keep Ben Skywalker distracted shortly before the Sith betray the Jedi

Abeloth attempted to trick Luke into believing that she was Callista Ming, his former lover, but ultimately failed, as he realized that Abeloth had only consumed Ming as she had attempted to do with Stadd and then taken on her appearance. The strike team then attacked Abeloth, and several Sith began weaving a control web&mdash;a technique they had learned from the Nightsisters&mdash;over Abeloth in the hopes of captuing her. The Khais, Taalon, and the Skywalkers, all charged Abeloth, but she grabbed Vestara by the throat with the Force and raised her off the ground, violently shaking her. Vestara attempted to shoot Force lightning at her, but Abeloth simply turned the lightning back on the Sith apprentice and raised large, white, spiked roots out of the ground, stabbing Vestara with them several times. Ben quickly came to rescue her, slashing through the roots with his lightsaber and carrying Vestara away from the battle in his arms. A quick examination revealed that she wasn't mortally injured, but she grabbed Ben and told him that the spikes were poisonous. He began to search his possessions for something that could help her wounds, but suddenly the Sith executed their betrayal of the Jedi&mdash;Gavar turned a strike away from Abeloth and toward Luke while the rest of the Sith lowered the control web onto Abeloth.

Ben shouted a warning to his father, who managed to block Gavar's attack. Vestara tried to insist that she needed Ben's help, but, furious at her betrayal, he jumped away and engaged her father in a duel. Luke was slowly gaining the upper hand in the battle against Abeloth while Ben began to press Gavar back; however, Abeloth suddenly set off a giant Force blast that repulsed everyone in the area and then fled back up the tunnel. Luke was the first to recover and chase after her, with Ben and the Sith shortly behind, and Vestara in the rear. Catching up to her at the cave's entrance, Luke managed to defeat and apparently kill Abeloth, despite another of her attempts to trick him. Afterward, the Sith repaired their alliance with the Jedi so that they could jointly investigate more into Abeloth. Taalon and Luke decided to send Calrissian, Solo, and the entire Sith fleet offworld except for the Khais and the High Lord himself. Vestara was taken back to the Jade Shadow to be treated for her injuries.

As Taalon, Luke, and Gavar, began to investigate Abeloth's origins, Vestara remained under Ben's watch aboard the Jade Shadow, along with the recovering Dyon Stadd. However, Vestara suddenly felt Ship's presence returning, and she tricked Ben, locking him in with Stadd while she escaped, although she was soon caught and nearly killed by the planet's carnivorous plants. Ben tracked her down and rescued her, and they made their way to the site of the ancient ruins, where Luke and the other Sith were investigating more into Abeloth. Gavar confronted Vestara about leaving the Jade Shadow, but upon Taalon's arrival, she spoke with him about Ship's return. She and the High Lord then returned to find Ben attempting to sneak off with Abeloth's corpse while Luke distracted Gavar, and Taalon quickly moved to attack Ben. However, Vestara suddenly noticed that Abeloth's body was morphing into that of Dyon Stadd's&mdash;she had somehow switched bodies with Stadd before Luke had killed her. After a standoff, the Jedi finally convinced the Sith to return to their ships, but they found that Abeloth had already fled.

Broken alliance
"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

As they searched through the jungle for Abeloth to no avail, the Sith claimed that the Jedi had actually taken Abeloth's corpse and were hiding her from them. However, when they conversed with Ship, the Meditation Sphere claimed that Luke knew where to find her. The Sith turned on the Grand Master, who revealed that he believed they could find her at the Pool of Knowledge&mdash;a Force nexus on the planet that he had visited while beyond shadows with the Mind Walkers. Ship transported them across the planet, but left them to find the Pool for themselves. The allies split up into two groups to find the Pool, Vestara and Ben in one, the three elders in the other. Vestara and Ben found the Pool in a grotto, and Vestara quickly alerted her fellow Sith through the Force. Ben attempted to convince her to leave the place and forget that they had ever found it, telling her that it would be too dangerous, and that Ship was just trying to pit the Jedi and Sith against each other. Just then, however, Taalon, Gavar, and Luke all arrived on the scene, and the five allies entered the grotto.

In the Pool, Vestara and Ben both viewed adult versions of themselves together. Suddenly, Ben exclaimed that he had seen Abeloth running for their vessels in the Pool, and that they needed to return quickly. Gavar questioned Vestara whether this was true, but she had not been looking, and was not sure. The Pool then changed to show Tahv and the Takara Mountains, and Gavar moved to attack Ben, suspecting that the Jedi were trying to discover the location of the Sith homeworld. Luke pushed him away, but Taalon, meanwhile, viewed a Jedi queen upon the Throne of Balance within the Pool, and, fearing that she could prevent the Sith's planned invasion of the galaxy, demanded to know who she was. The Skywalkers recognized her as their relative, Allana Solo, daughter of Darth Caedus, and chose the moment to attack, knowing that a fight was going to break out between them no matter what. Ben pushed past Vestara, who was shocked by his sudden attack on her; but he was too late to stop Taalon from jumping into the Pool. Vestara recovered and attacked Ben, but was soon sent flying backward, knocking into Taalon as he reemerged from the Pool. He punched her in fury, but she joined him in battle against Luke while her father incapacitated Ben. Luke, however, used the Force to slam Gavar into Vestara and Taalon, and then cut off Gavar's forearm. Luke was repelled by Force lightning, and he and Ben quickly fled the grotto, collapsing the entryway behind them.

As the Sith recovered from the battle, Taalon and Gavar decided to use Vestara as a spy to learn everything she could about the Jedi queen that Taalon had seen. Taalon beat her severely, to make it appear as though they were punishing her, and she was fleeing from them. Before sending her to join the Jedi, however, Taalon and Gavar confronted Vestara about whether she and Ben had fallen in love. Vestara's response was hesitant, but Taalon revealed that he wanted them to fall in love so that Ben would come to trust her, and the Sith could use that trust to their advantage. They then sent her off to the beach where they had left their ships, following close behind her. Vestara arrived at the beach to find the Jade Shadow already gone. Disappointed, she decided to await the arrival of Taalon and her father to tell them the news&mdash;unbeknownst to her, the Skywalkers were still there; Abeloth had already fled in the Jade Shadow. Luke saw Vestara's reaction to the missing Jade Shadow and deduced the Sith's plan. However, when Taalon and Gavar soon arrived behind her, Taalon blasted Vestara with Force lightning and sent her tumbling down a sandy bank. Luke came out of hiding and provided cover fire, forcing Taalon and Gavar to take cover. As Luke and the two Sith exchanged fire, the Jedi retreated down the bank to Vestara. Taalon and Gavar neared, but soon triggered a thermal detonator that Luke had left in the jungle for them. Luke and Vestara then fled to the Emiax, Taalon's personal shuttle, where Ben was waiting. As Vestara and the Jedi boarded the shuttle, Taalon and Gavar reemerged, and Luke fired on the two as they escaped in the Emiax.

Events on Pydyr
"But if you come with us, it can't be as a prisoner. We're going to have enough trouble without worrying about you."

- Luke Skywalker, to Vestara

Aboard the Emiax, Vestara, Luke, and Ben tracked Abeloth to Pydyr, a moon of the planet Almania. They were messaged and warned not to approach the surface, due to the outbreak of a terrible plague, but Luke decided to land the shuttle in the spaceport in the capital city of Corocus anyway. While Luke left the shuttle to investigate the situation and try to locate Abeloth, Vestara escaped the shuttle and found a public S-thread booth and sent a quick message to a Sith relay center on Boonta. She reported that they had reached Pydyr, and that she believed the Jedi had already called for reinforcements. Ben found her and began to question her, asking her to return to the shuttle, but she convinced him to come with her as they sought out Luke. They eventually found him with the Jade Shadow in a cave where he had just finished speaking with Akanah Norand Goss Pell, a member of the pacifistic Force-sensitive Fallanassi. While Vestara and the Skywalkers regrouped and contemplated further action, Vestara and Ben both began to show signs of the planetwide plague&mdash;unbeknownst to both of them, the plague was just an illusion put forth in the White Current, the Fallanassi's interpretation of the Force. Thus only Luke, who knew how to access the White Current, showed none of the affects of the disease.

Soon, the Kondo-class assault shuttle Obuuri arrived with a large contingent of Sith reinforcements, including Sarasu Taalon&mdash;who, following his dive in the Pool of Knowledge, had begun to transform into a being like Abeloth&mdash;and Gavar Khai. Gavar and Luke clashed immediately, and prepared to open battle, but Taalon told Gavar to back down, insisting that once he learned what exactly he was becoming he would help kill Abeloth. Aboard the Jade Shadow, Vestara, along with her father, Taalon, the Skywalkers, and fifty more Sith, traveled along with the Obuuri in search of the Fallanassi village. Luke tried to tell the Sith that their hazard suits would not protect them from the plague, revealing that both Ben and Vestara had worn the suits and both showed symptoms anyway; but Gavar accused Luke of neglecting to protect his daughter while Taalon accused the Jedi of attempting to trick the Sith. The vessels were soon set upon by the Fallanassi's defenses&mdash;illusions in the White Current. The ships were beset by a fleet of Sith Meditation Spheres, and although Lord Taalon at first kept up the pretense that they were under Sith control, the Sith grew fearful as the Jade Shadow neared. The Obuuri finally opened fire, but Luke, who could see through the illusions, flew the Jade Shadow straight through the fleet. Soon after, the Obuuri crashed into a cliff that had been hidden by illusions. Taalon began to demand that they land and request more reinforcements, but they had reached the island that was home to the Fallanassi; Luke dove his vessel down to the village, and the illusion was broken.

They were greeted by the Fallanassi, who agreed reluctantly to help nurse the ill Sith. Taalon, however, finally saw the plague for what it was, and demanded to know Abeloth's whereabouts. When Akanah Norand Goss Pell stepped forward to speak with the newcomers, Taalon began to question her, and even had Vestara's father hold another Fallanassi hostage in an attempt to make her more forthcoming. She revealed that Abeloth had come to the Fallanassi because she was one, but when Luke questioned whetger that meant she had always been one, or if she had joined more recently, Pell refused to answer. Gavar killed his hostage, but Pell grew furious and attacked him with an illusion that drove him to madness. As he ran screaming from those gathered, Vestara tripped him with the Force, but when he remained under the illusion's power she finally used the Force to knock him out. Pell&mdash;who was actually Abeloth in Pell's body&mdash;then released visions onto all of the Sith present, save Vestara and Taalon, driving some to commit suicide by jumping into the ocean.

Abeloth then invited Taalon to a gathering hall to converse with him, and Vestara and the Skywalkers followed them. Luke attempted to make the Sith realize that Abeloth was just trying to play them against each other, but when he failed to make Taalon see this, he began to maneuver to the best possible position from which to attack. Taalon saw Luke's intention and opened battle, but Luke turned on Abeloth and soon defeated her, killing Pell's body. Luke then joined Ben in battling Vestara and Taalon, but Abeloth returned to the scene, again in the form of Callista. Abeloth quickly overpowered the already weakened Luke, but she stopped Taalon from killing him, instead knocking him unconscious. Taalon then trapped Ben in a Force net, and they retrieved Vestara's father from outside and brought him into the hall. As Vestara stood and watched, Taalon spoke with Abeloth, and she began to feed him dark energy from her tentacles. Luke, meanwhile, had awakened, and he caused a distraction by collapsing the ceiling with the Force. Vestara, fearing that Taalon would turn into another Abeloth, took advantage of the distraction to jump forward and kill Taalon.

With Taalon's death, the net holding Ben disintegrated, and the Skywalkers began to fight Abeloth. Khai threw her lightsaber to the Jedi to use in battle&mdash;their own had been taken from them earlier after their capture&mdash;and then blasted Abeloth with Force lightning. Weakened, Abeloth repulsed Luke with the Force and then fled the gathering hall. Vestara then turned on the Jedi and ordered that they prepare themselves to be taken into Sith custody, but Luke used the Force to awaken her father, while simultaneously praising her for killing Taalon. Gavar, who was unaware of the full circumstances surrounding Taalon's death, moved to confront Vestara over her apparent betrayal. Vestara knocked him out with the Force and then fled the hall with the Skywalkers, knowing that the Sith would not allow her time to explain her actions. As she and the Jedi made their way toward the Jade Shadow, however, the other Sith began to awake from their illusions; since Abeloth had fled, her hold over them was finally gone.Master Vhool confronted them and, unaware of Vestara's situation, ordered her to start up the Jade Shadow while he went back to find Taalon.

Vestara started up the ship and brought its blaster cannons around to bear, and a wing of Jedi StealthXs, along with Captain Booster Terrik's Star Destroyer Errant Venture, suddenly arrived on Pydyr and opened fire on the Sith. Meanwhile, Vhool discovered that Vestara had killed Taalon, but she also opened fire on the Sith, again saving the Skywalkers and giving them time to rush on board. As they lifted off from Pydyr, they were contacted by the Errant Venture. Both sides briefly updated each other on their respective recent events, but Luke refused to take any time to rest. He deduced that since Abeloth was not dead, the only reason the Jedi back on Coruscant recovered from their psychosis was that Abeloth was weakened. As the Errant Venture and the StealthXs forced the Sith to retreat, Vestara and the Skywalkers plotted their course to continue hunting down Abeloth.

On Nam Chorios
After they left Pydyr, Khai and the Skywalkers they tracked Abeloth to Nam Chorios. Upon arrival they then searched for the Theran Listeners, a group of force user who had unique abilities who the Skywalkers suspected Abeloth meant to control. Luke discovered that one of listeners the be an old acquaintance Teselda from when he had come to Nam Chorios nearly 30 year earlier.

Personality and traits
"She's the conversational equivalent of a monkey-lizard on too much caf. Here, there, everywhere, and it's impossible to pin down."

- Ben Skywalker, speaking of Vestara's skills in deception

Vestara possessed all of the desired physical qualities of a Sith save for a small scar on her lip with which she had been born&mdash;in the Lost Tribe's society such a deformity was considered a degrading flaw. However, Olaris Rhea told her that she believed the scar was beneficial, giving her the appearance of a constant smirk. Despite this scar, Vestara was considered to be beautiful by other Humans, including Ben Skywalker. Vestara felt great compassion for her uvak, Tikk, but suppressed her emotions when Rhea prepared to kill the creature, accepting that it was Rhea's decision; the Lady thus allowed Tikk to live. Vestara also cared greatly for her family and understood that her father had married her mother due to love; that he loved her despite the fact that she was not Force-sensitive. Vestara became acquainted with the Keshiri Ahri Raas, training frequently with him and developing a close friendship. He came to feel attracted to her, but although she found him very attractive and loved him as a friend, she did not reciprocate his feelings.

Vestara held a powerful desire to become a Sith Master; Ship recognized this desire in her and contacted her first upon his arrival on Kesh, sensing her great ambition. The Meditation Sphere also acknowledged her powerful will, although it was no match for Abeloth's. During her mission with the strike team, she perceived that Raas was being used by Xal to spy on her and glean information from her that could prove useful to Xal's coup and she accepted that she might have to be the one to kill her friend. She was very upset by the prospect of doing so, but believed that it was necessary. During the strike team's battle with the Skywalkers, she was angered at Raas' stupidity in attempting to betray her and took out her vengeance on Xal by killing the Sith Master. Later in the battle, after her own master was killed by Luke, Vestara knew that she was completely outmatched and saluted the Jedi before fleeing. Similarly, when confronted on Dathomir by the Skywalkers after Galaan fled without her, she accepted the fact that she had no chance of escaping and surrendered.

On Dathomir, Vestara recognized the power of the Nightsisters and arranged for them to meet with members of her Tribe so that they could exchange their knowledge of the Force&mdash;although in reality she intended for her Tribe to capture the Nightsisters. She showed her cunning in formulating her plans on Dathomir&mdash;her time on the run in the rain forest and under the care of the Dathomiri Witches was used simply to keep the Skywalkers from discovering her true actions. As a result, it wasn't until after they captured her that they realized that she hadn't paid for her yacht to be repaired; rather, she had sold it for enough credits to send a hypercomm message to her people. When in the company of the Skywalkers, she managed to keep from revealing any information to them, despite Ben's best attempts to lure her into doing so during their conversations. Still, she frequently flirted with Ben during their time together and they developed an attraction to each other. At the behest of her father, she attempted to use this to acquire information from him.

Vestara held great respect for her father, Gavar, but she was upset that he neglected to tell her the Sith's true motives in allying with the Jedi. She also began to see him as irrational when he grew angry at her for assisting Ben in the capture of Stadd on Klatooine; but when she responded that she had done so only to cement his trust in her, Gavar's anger subsided. Later, unbeknownst to Vestara, Ben viewed a translation of the conversation that she had held with her father when she had met with him aboard the Jade Shadow. The knowledge that she was planning to betray them led Ben to distance himself from her slightly, causing Vestara some distress. While she still held hopes of being able to turn Ben to the dark side so that they could be together, she also harbored a wish that he had just been born a Sith. When Vestara developed her plan to use Stadd to locate Abeloth, she decided not to tell the Skywalkers because she feared that they would not trust her. During the battle with Abeloth, Vestara was gravely injured and taken to safety by Ben. He saw that none of her wounds were fatal, but she claimed that the thorns that had stabbed her were poisonous, using his feelings for her to delay his return to the battle as the Sith executed their betrayal. However, Ben still noticed as Gavar moved to attack Luke and he warned his father of the attack in time.

Powers and abilities
"I am Vestara Khai, daughter of a proud heritage. I have what is necessary to command the dark side and bend it to my will. To use it for the good of the Tribe, and the People."

- Vestara

Khai was very strong in the Force and possessed a great ambition to rise through the ranks of the Tribe. Luke Skywalker himself acknowledged her potential, recognizing her exceptionally strong connection to the Force. Ship recognized her strength and desire and approached her before any other Sith on Kesh, offering to help her become more powerful. This led directly to her apprenticeship to Lady Olaris Rhea and to the creation of a new Sith armada, in which Vestara served. Prior to joining the armada she had never killed anyone, but during the first two years of her travels offworld she became an experienced killer. A competent pilot, Khai learned how to fly Ship under the Sith Meditation Sphere's own tutelage and she later flew the SoroSuub yacht She's a Chancer from Sinkhole Station to Dathomir on her own.

Khai was skilled with a lightsaber and was completely ambidextrous. As a Tyro, she often sparred with her friend Ahri Raas, frequently besting him in their matches. During the mission to Sinkhole Station, Khai and Rhea briefly dueled Luke Skywalker, and though Rhea was killed, Khai survived the conflict. Later, while with the Raining Leaves Clan on Dathomir, Luke Skywalker noted Khai's talent with a lightsaber, comparing it to that of a Jedi Knight. When she and Ben were chasing the psychotic Dyon Stadd on Klatooine, she was able to use her lightsaber to deflect shots fired on them by Klatooinian guards who were also chasing after Stadd, while simultaneously speaking with Luke via comlink, informing him of their situation. Khai was also versed in the use of the parang and the shikkar, both of which she used during her mission with the strike team. She was also competent in the use of blasters, which she also utilized during the skirmish at Sinkhole Station. Despite her skills, she knew when to admit defeat&mdash;she fled following her Master's death at Sinkhole Station, acknowledging that she was no match for the Jedi Grand Master; and later surrendered to the Jedi on Dathomir after Gaalan fled without her, knowing that she had no hope of defeating Stadd and both of the Skywalkers in battle.

The Sith apprentice was also skilled in various Force techniques. Following her return to consciousness during the battle with the Skywalkers at Sinkhole Station, she managed to Force-push the two Jedi into each other, allowing her time to escape. Later, while chasing Stadd on Klatooine, she easily levitated Stadd's speeder over a large distance, to Ben's surprise. She also displayed the use of Force lightning, utilizing bursts of lightning that ranged from very powerful to very small. At one point she shot Ben with a tiny bolt of lightning. She also used Force lightning to incapacitate two Klatooinian guards, as well as later during the battle with Ableoth&mdash;although the dark side entity easily bent the lightning back upon Khai.

Khai was also noted by the Skywalkers for her cunning and her skills in the art of deception. On Dathomir, Ben attempted multiple times to glean information from her, but she managed to keep the truth hidden from him for some time, avoiding detection of her duplicity while she negotiated a deal with the Nightsisters&mdash;although, unbeknownst to the Nightsisters, she planned to betray them, too, to her own Tribe. Later, on Abeloth's planet, she successfully devised a plan to free Stadd and follow him to Abeloth in order to locate her, deceiving him into believing that she, too, was an ally of Abeloth's. During the battle with Abeloth in the courtyard, Khai pretended that her injuries were poisoned, drawing Ben's attention away from the battle just as the Sith executed their betrayal of the Jedi, almost leading to Luke's death at the hands of Gavar Khai.

As was traditional for Sith, Khai carried a red-bladed lightsaber. Following her first contact with Ship and apprenticeship to Rhea, she was given a new crystal for her lightsaber, a Lignan crystal&mdash;a crystal of lignan ore, an ore that was exceptionally powerful in the dark side of the Force, amplifying the power of her blade. Khai carried a parang, a weapon with a curved blade that had been adopted by the Sith Tribe from use as a garden tool to use as a weapon. She also owned a shikkar, a dagger made entirely out of glass for one single use that was considered to be an honorable weapon by the Sith Tribe. After she used her shikkar to kill Yuvar Xal, her father gave her one from his personal collection that had been crafted by the famous shikkar-maker Tura Sanga.

Behind the scenes
Vestara Khai was introduced in Christie Golden's Omen, the second novel of the Fate of the Jedi series, and has appeared in each subsequent novel of the series thus far. She was pictured on the front cover of Omen and Ascension. Khai also appeared in the short stories Imprint and "First Blood," both by Golden.

Appearances

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