Skirmish at Sinkhole Station A skirmish took place at Sinkhole Station in 43 . 5 ABY when Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker and his son Ben Skywalker were ambushed by a strike team of Sith sent to eliminate the two Jedi . The Skywalkers had recently embarked on a quest to find out what had caused Jacen Solo ' s fall to the dark side of the Force , which eventually led them to find the Mind Walkers at Sinkhole Station in the Maw . Meanwhile , the strike team , consisting of members of the Lost Tribe of Sith from Kesh , was sent to track down Ship , a Sith Meditation Sphere , and kill Luke Skywalker . After recovering Ship , the surviving members of the Sith strike team arrived at the station and ambushed the Jedi . The Jedi duo survived the initial confrontation and headed for the station ' s hangar , only to be ambushed by Sith Master Yuvar Xal , Sith Saber Baad Walusari , and Sith apprentices Vestara Khai and Ahri Raas . Xal and Raas , however , had planned to betray the others in an attempted coup to take over command of the strike team from Khai ' s Master , Lady Olaris Rhea . They attempted to kill Walusari and Khai as they attacked the Skywalkers , but their betrayal was unsuccessful . Khai quickly killed Xal , and Raas and Walusari were slain by the Skywalkers . Luke then confronted Khai , allowing her to cut him with her parang in order to put a blood trail on her before knocking the apprentice out and taking her hostage . The Skywalkers were once again ambushed along the way to the hangar by more of the Sith . Khai regained consciousness and attacked as well , and the Jedi were forced to let her escape . They defeated the rest of the Sith and made their way to the hangar , where Ben went to prepare the " Jade Shadow " as Luke went back inside the station and confronted the four remaining Sith , killing the first two quickly and engaging in a duel with the second pair , Rhea and Khai . In the " Jade Shadow " , Ben opened fire on Ship , distracting the two surviving Sith and allowing Luke to kill Rhea . Khai , realizing she was no match for the Jedi , saluted them and fled . The Skywalkers allowed her to escape so that they could follow her with the blood trail . Prelude . After Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker was put on trial and exiled from Coruscant for dereliction of duty in 43 . 5 ABY , he and his son , Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker , embarked on a quest to find out what may have caused Jedi Knight - turned - Sith Lord Jacen Solo to fall to the dark side of the Force two years prior . Spending time with the Hidden Ones on Dorin and the Aing - Tii on a planet in the Kathol Rift , the Skywalkers ' journey led them to seek out the Mind Walkers in the Maw . The Jedi found the Mind Walkers at Sinkhole Station , which appeared to be a miniature version of Centerpoint Station . There , the Mind Walkers began to teach the Skywalkers to go " beyond shadows " by separating their minds from their bodies . Meanwhile , Ship , a Sith Meditation Sphere , abruptly left the planet of Kesh , where it had spent the last two years helping the planet ' s Lost Tribe of Sith develop a new Sith armada . The Tribe , having recently felt Luke Skywalker ' s presence in the Force when he came in contact with the Codex artifact in the Kathol Rift , sent a strike team led by Lady Olaris Rhea to recover Ship and eliminate the Grand Master . The team tracked Ship to a planet in the Maw , where they eventually met Abeloth , a female being of great strength in the Force . The planet ' s plants and wildlife proved deadly to the Sith , disposing of them until , eventually , there were only fifteen left . Abeloth pretended to help the Sith search for Ship and stay safe , while actually preventing Ship from returning to the Tribe . However , Abeloth was also present beyond shadows , and after she discovered the Skywalkers ' location in the Maw , she allowed the Sith to leave the planet for Sinkhole Station , provided that the Tribe capture the Jedi and return with them to Kesh , as opposed to killing them . The battle . Ambush . After returning from beyond shadows , the Skywalkers began nourishing their dilapidated bodies in the station ' s control room . The Skywalkers then proceeded to question one of the Mind Walkers , Rhondi Tremaine , of the validity of their trip . They also considered theories about the mental illness befalling Jedi Knights back on Coruscant . While discussing that , they heard a detonation nearby from the room in which Ben had locked up Tremaine ' s brother , Rolund Tremaine — a precaution he had taken before going beyond shadows in order to guarantee that Rhondi would make sure they returned safely . As Ben began to go check on Rolund , a scarlet lightsaber was thrust through the entry hatch , impaling the back of Rhondi Tremaine ' s head . Four red lightsabers began to cut through the hatchway , and Luke cut open an escape route in the control room ' s viewport . The Grand Master decided that he would attempt to take one member of the ambushers hostage in order to find out who they were , as well as who had sent them . Finally , the intruders broke through and engaged the Skywalkers in combat . One of the Sith , a Keshiri female , threw a parang at Luke , who barely managed to dodge the weapon in time . Ben attacked the female Sith , slicing off her hand and stabbing her with his lightsaber . Her companions quickly charged them , however , and the Skywalkers retreated out through the hatch , Luke pouring blaster fire in after them . As Ben slipped out of the control room , he threw in a canister of azetal gas before he and Luke opened fire with their blasters . Three of the attacking Sith were killed , but the rest escaped through the hole that Luke had cut in the viewport . Meanwhile , the Skywalkers fled down the corridor in an attempt to reach their " Horizon " - class star yacht , the " Jade Shadow " . Attempted coup . Upon arriving at the station , Rhea had changed the mission ' s objective back to killing the Skywalkers , rather than capturing them . She also ordered her apprentice , Vestara Khai , and a Sith Saber , Baad Walusari , to keep a careful watch on Sith Master Yuvar Xal and his apprentice , Ahri Raas , as she believed that they would attempt to betray her during the battle and take command of the strike team . Xal , Raas , Khai , and Walusari were hidden behind hatches at a junction chamber that the Skywalkers would have to pass in order to reach the " Jade Shadow " , planning to attack them with grenades . Shortly after the Skywalkers escaped the first confrontation , Rhea called the four ambushers to warn them that the Skywalkers were headed their way . Seeing their targets approach with lightsaber and blaster in hand , Khai and Walusari opened their hatches and tossed their grenades at the Skywalkers , but Xal and Raas quickly pushed the explosives back at them before tossing their own stun grenade s at the Jedi . Rhea had anticipated the move , however , and had given Khai and Walusari false grenades to throw first . Meanwhile , one of the Skywalkers — both of whom had escaped the effects of the grenades — pretended to be incapacitated by the stun blast , and Raas moved forward to apprehend him . However , before Xal could join him , Khai unsheathed her shikkar and hurled the blade into the Sith Master ' s solar plexus , then broke off the hilt with the Force and watched Xal die . The Sith Master screamed in agony , and Raas was distracted long enough for the Skywalker he had been attempting to subdue to slice him down the spine with his lightsaber , killing him . Walusari was the next to move , preparing to throw his fragmentation grenade s at the Skywalkers , but the Jedi used the Force to throw the grenades back at him and shut his hatch down on his arm . Luke then grabbed Khai ' s wrist and quickly tossed her fragmentation grenades away down the corridor . Infuriated , Khai used the Force to lash out with her parang , managing to cut him across the cheek and nose . Unbeknownst to her , however , Luke had intended to let her cut him so that he could track her using a blood trail . Luke then knocked her out with a blow to the face and took her with him as he and Ben continued toward the " Jade Shadow " . Escape . As the Skywalkers passed by a detention center containing Killik carapaces , they were attacked by more Sith from the corridor behind them . The Jedi pushed their captive aside as Sith began pouring blaster fire at them , which Luke countered by shooting the entrance through which the intruders had come — a membranous door . While the shot hit one of the beings still behind the door , the membrane itself split , and the resulting decompression explosion sent several of the Sith flying down the corridor . The Skywalkers continued firing on the Sith , quickly killing four of them . However , the intruders finally composed themselves , igniting their lightsabers and charging toward the Jedi . The Skywalkers , who had continued retreating down the corridor to the hangar the whole time , were suddenly attacked by Khai , who — though still bound — had regained consciousness . She Force - pushed Luke into Ben , knocking them both into the wall . Luke , however , urged Ben to let the girl escape , and the Jedi Knight fired a few blaster shots after Khai , sending her running down the corridor . As the Skywalkers reached the hangar , Ben felt Ship ' s presence searching for them and realized that their attackers must be Sith , as he recognized the vessel as a Sith ship he had encountered during the Second Galactic Civil War . He told his father his concerns , and Luke ordered him to prepare the " Jade Shadow " for launch . Luke then went back inside the station on a lift and was instantly confronted by four Sith . He shot one of them in the chest three times , and then ignited his lightsaber through the face of a second . As the lift headed back down , the last two Sith — Khai and Rhea — dove in with him . The three began to duel , and the Sith managed to land several glancing blows on Skywalker , tearing holes in his vac suit . As Skywalker began to lose pressure in the suit , the Sith pressed their advantage , Khai firing on him with her blaster . Luke deflected the bolts back at her , sending one into her boot . Skywalker proceeded to duel one - on - one with Rhea , all the while using the Force to prevent Khai from attacking him from behind . The exit panel on the lift opened behind Luke , and Ben opened fire on Ship from the " Jade Shadow " . The Sith were distracted by the sudden light of the lasers , and Luke seized the opportunity by cutting off Rhea ' s leg and arm and quickly decapitating her . Upon killing the elder Sith , Luke immediately anticipated a counterattack from Khai . The apprentice , however , had realized she was outmatched , and had retreated over to a SoroSuub StarTripper . She saluted Luke with her scarlet lightsaber — to which Luke responded with a nod — and fled . Aftermath . With the blood trail on Khai , the Skywalkers allowed her to retreat to give Luke time to recover from his injuries . As they prepared to begin tracking the Sith apprentice , Ben began to worry that — while his father would recover from his physical wounds — he might never fully recover from his time beyond shadows . When Khai finally left the station , she knew that the Skywalkers would be tracking her and decided to head for the planet of Dathomir , where she sent a hypercomm message to the Tribe on Kesh to retrieve her . However , the Skywalkers found and dueled with the Sith Lord sent to retrieve her , defeating him and capturing Khai . Behind the scenes . The Skirmish at Sinkhole Station was created by author Troy Denning for the third novel in the nine - part " " series , " " , released on August 18 , 2009 . The event served as the climax of the novel , as well as the death of three established characters in the series : Ahri Raas , Yuvar Xal , and Olaris Rhea .