Tahiri Veila

"I know something about pain you don't. Pain drowns other people. I just swim in it."

- Tahiri Veila

Tahiri Veila was a secondary antagonist in the Legacy of the Force series. She serves as Darth Caedus's Sith apprentice after his failure to seduce Ben Skywalker.



History
A native of Tatooine, Tahiri originally befriended Caedus's brother Anakin when they were both Jedi younglings. After the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the known galaxy, Tahiri was captured by Mezhan Kwaad and Nen Yim, who sought to turn the Jedi Padawan into a Force-sensitive Yuuzhan Vong. Though Tahiri was eventually rescued by Anakin, the experience left her scarred emotionally and physically. She developed a dual personality, one as Tahiri Veila, the other as Riina Kwaad, a fictional Yuuzhan Vong based off the memories of Nen Yim.

Following her rescue and the sacrifice of Vua Rapuung, Tahiri and Anakin began to grow closer. While on a mission with Jedi Knight Corran Horn, the two young Jedi shared a kiss. Before they could figure out their relationship, however, Anakin was killed on a mission to kill the voxyn queen. Tahiri seemed more broken by this than even Anakin's siblings Jacen and Jaina. She would forever regret that she had not at least given Anakin one last kiss before he died.



On the same mission that cost Anakin his life, Jacen was captured by Nom Anor and Vergere, and faced similar treatment under their care that Tahiri. Eventually, with the help of Vergere, Jacen escaped. Once returned to Mon Calamari, Jacen tried to help Tahiri use her experience with the Yuuzhan Vong to her advantage. With Jacen's help, she learned how to feel the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, a power she and Jacen dubbed "Vong-sense."

After Jacen departed on a mission to rediscover the planet Zonama Sekot, however, Tahiri began to break, as her two identities began to clash. Eventually, with the help of Jaina, Tahiri learned how to merge her two sides: Yuuzhan Vong and Jedi. When she awoke, she was mentally healthy again, albeit with a harsher and more sadistic personality than she had before.

Following this, Tahiri, at the bequest of a Yuuzhan Vong Shamed One, departed on a mission with her old mentor Horn and the Yuuzhan Vong traitors Yu'shaa (an alias of Nom Anor), Harrar, and her old nemesis Nen YIm. Once there, Tahiri and the Yuuzhan Vong began to discover that Zonama Sekot was seed of their lost homeworld Yuuzhan'tar. Given this information, Harrar and Nen Yim began to realize how lost their species was. As they both defected to the Jedi's side, Nom Anor turned on them. He murdered Nen Yim, poisoned Zonama Sekot, and fled the world.

However, Sekot managed to save its planet, and it returned to known space to aid the Galactic Alliance. With Harrar's help, Sekot and the Jedi realized how they could save the Yuuzhan Vong. After Sekot's return, Tahiri took part in a mission to retake Coruscant. While Jacen, Jaina, and Luke Skywalker confronted Shimrra Jamaane and Onimi directly, Tahiri, Mara, and Harrar aided Han and Leia Solo in neutralizing the World Brain. Fortunately, Jacen managed to convince it to turn on its masters.

Following Jamaane's and Onimi's demise, the Galactic Alliance negotiated a peace treaty with the Yuuzhan Vong. The aliens would be allowed to live in willing exile on Zonama Sekot, so long as they called a ceasefire and helped the Alliance save the galaxy. Following this, Tahiri spent the next six years with the Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot.

The Way of the Sith
Six years after the Yuuzhan Vong War, Jacen reappeared from his odyssey, now a much harsher Jedi than he had been before. As war mounted between the Alliance and the Killik Dark Nest, Jacen began to utilize Tahiri as his spy, a tool he would use to fulfill his plans. Eventually the Dark Nest Queen, Lomi Plo, was killed and her pawn former Jedi UnuThul was captured. With this, the galaxy seemed to find peace. This would not last.

Five years after Killik crisis, war began to mount between the Alliance and the Corellian system, led by Thrackan Sal-Solo. At this point, Jacen began to study under the Sith Lady Lumiya, who slowly shaped him into a ruthless tyrant. Once Jacen had ousted Chief of State Cal Omas from power, the Sith apprentice became joint Chief of State with Cha Niathal. Around this time, Jacen shed his old self with the murder of Mara Jade Skywalker, becoming the Sith Lord Darth Caedus.

Using the power of flow-walking, Caedus began to seduce Tahiri with memories of her lost love Anakin. Mistakenly believing she could alter time, Tahiri began to serve as Jacen's agent, even attempting to arrest Han and Leia Solo on Caedus's orders. After Ben Skywalker left Caedus's side, the Sith Lord began to shape Tahiri to be Ben's replacement. She rose to the position of Galactic Alliance Guard lieutenant.

During the Second Battle of Fondor, Tahiri served aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Bloodfin, where she was to keep an eye on Gilad Pellaeon. When Pellaeon chose to honor Fondor's surrender rather than follow Caedus's order to fire on the planet, Tahiri slipped into his quarters and assassinated him. Following heinous crime, Tahiri officially became the Sith apprentice of Darth Caedus.



In the final days of the Second Galactic Civil War, Tahiri led a Galactic Alliance task force against Jedi agents Jaina Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and Ben Skywalker. While Jaina and Leia escaped, Tahiri captured Ben and the Jedi agent within the Galactic Alliance Guard, Lon Shevu. Throughout the next few days, Tahiri made several fruitless attempts to seduce Ben to the dark side. All ended to failure. Finally, she threatened Shevu's life if Ben didn't reveal the secret Jedi base. As she tortured the former cop, Tahiri unintentionally killed him. This action left Tahiri shaken.

During the climatic battle of the Second Galactic Civil War, Ben managed to bring the remorseful Tahiri back to the light side. She was arrested by Galactic Alliance agents. Around this same time, Tahiri's Lord Caedus was killed by his sister Jaina. But though the Sith was dead, his action left lasting repercussions on the rest of the galaxy.

Afterward
In the years that followed Caedus's death, Tahiri never truly recovered from her time as a Sith apprentice. Rather than return to the Jedi Order, Tahiri departed on a self-imposed exile where she became a bounty hunter. This lasted up until Caedus's successor Natasi Daala arrested her for the murder of Gilad Pellaeon.