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 Khai, on Kesh. A Sith Tyro in the Lost Tribe of Sith during the time of the Second Galactic Civil War, she was apprenticed to Lady Olaris Rhea after coming into contact with the Sith Meditation Sphere Ship. After enlisting in the Tribe's new armada, she was selected for the strike team sent in 43.5 ABY to hunt down Ship, who had left following a call in the Force from Abeloth, and kill Luke Skywalker. The strike team found Ship on Abeloth's planet and then traveled in the Meditation Sphere to attack Skywalker and his son, Ben, at Sinkhole Station. During the battle, Khai was betrayed by her friend, Ahri Raas and his Master, Yuvar Xal, when they attempted a coup to take over command of the strike team from Rhea. She survived the betrayal, however, and killed Xal before being captured by the two Jedi.

She escaped from their grasp later in the battle, meeting up with her Master and confronting Luke as the Jedi were trying to escape. Luke managed to kill Rhea, however, and Khai fled in a SoroSuub yacht. The Jedi tracked her to Dathomir, where she called for help from her Tribe and, in the meanwhile, came under the care of the Dathomiri Witch Raining Leaves Clan. The Skywalkers found her, but the Witches forbid them from doing her harm. The Jedi and Sith then assisted the Clan in its dealings against Nightsister attacks while it was holding a conclave to merge with the Broken Columns Clan. With the help of Khai and the Skywalkers, the two Clans successfully merged and then warded off one final Nightsister attack. The Sith that Khai had called arrived in-system, however, and traveled down to Dathomir's surface. There, they captured a group of Nightsisters before being confronted by the Skywalkers, who forced the Sith to flee and then captured Khai.

After traveling up into orbit, however, the Jedi 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 Klatooine to await the arrival of Skywalker's friend, Lando Calrissian, whow as to assist them in navigating the Maw. There, Khai and Ben Skywalker helped capture Dyon Stadd when the Force-sensitive fell prey to Abeloth's influence, and the two further developed feelings for each other. The ships eventually left for the Maw, where they found that Sinkhole Station was destroyed before traveling straight to Abeloth's world. There, Khai placed a homing beacon on Stadd and then let him go so that they could follow him to Abeloth. The plan worked, and the Sith and Jedi allies found Abeloth and began to battle her. During the battle, Khai was severely injured by Abeloth, and Ben quickly went to help her; but the Sith Tribe suddenly betrayed the Jedi, turning to attack Luke and trying to capture Abeloth for their own use rather than destroy her. Luke eventually defeated Abeloth, however, 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 the dark side being.

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.

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. She was then apprenticed to Lady Olaris Rhea, and 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.

Under Ship's guidance, Khai and other Sith began traveling beyond Kesh to capture other ships and form a new Sith armada. Over time, Khai went from being an innocent being who never even inflicted a serious injury on anyone to a skilled killer. During these travels, one of the first battleships to be captured was renamed the Eternal Crusader and put under the command of Lady Rhea; Khai served on the vessel under her Master.

Strike Team member
"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 Khaiw as 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 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 tor eturn 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.

On 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
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 exi 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 Vesttara, 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
They then found Abeloth and engaged her in combat. In a ploy to distract Ben, Abeloth attacked Vestara. Vestara used her injury to distract Ben as the rest of the Sith betrayed Luke, including her father, as well attempting to capture Abeloth and force her to serve the Tribe. However, Luke was able to kill Abeloth and afterwards Vestara was kept on the Shadow to be treated for her injuries and still as a means to keep the Sith in line, though it was allowed by Taalon.

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 the desired physical qualities of a Sith save for a small scar on her lip, which in her society was considered a degrading flaw. However, Lady Rhea told her that she believed the scar was beneficial, giving her the appearance of a constant smirk. Vestara was extremely cunning, and was able to perceive Xal's true motives without the betrayal being mentioned by Raas or Lady Rhea.

However, she does have a softer side, as evidenced by the compassion shown for her uvak, Tikk. Ben observed that she is similar to Tahiri, that though she chose the dark side there was good in her. She also admits to her father that she has developed an attraction towards Ben and this is evidenced by her flirting with him during the mission to destroy Abeloth and the bond that they started to form while imprisoned.

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

Vestara possessed a red-bladed lightsaber, the traditional weapon of the Sith, which contained at its core a Lignan crystal. She also carried a shikkar, which she used to kill Yuvar Xal during the fight on Sinkhole Station, and a parang. During her stay on Dathomir she demonstrated considerable speed and grace with a lightsaber that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker noted would have been worthy of a Jedi Knight. Master Skywalker also comprehended Vestara’s remarkable potential, due to her exceptionally strong connection to the Force. On Klatooine, the Sith apprentice demonstrated the ability to levitate a speeder over quite a distance with a simple gesture, much to the shock of Ben Skywalker. In addition, she was able to use Force lightning to incapacitate two Klatooinian guards.

She was also said to be perfectly ambidextrous.

Behind the scenes
Vestara Khai was introduced in Omen, the second novel of the Fate of the Jedi series, and has appeared in each subsequent novel of the series thus far. She appeared on the front cover of Omen.

Appearances

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